


(Byun & Park, 2018)

by baeconandeggs, lightsketch



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-19 22:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18980005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeconandeggs/pseuds/baeconandeggs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightsketch/pseuds/lightsketch
Summary: Chanyeol finds himself failing some of his classes after prioritizing the university's own student publication, and now, he's hoping that the person he had once insulted during freshman orientation had forgotten all about it, just so he can ask for help from him. Yet, it isn't as easy as he hopes so. Because Byun Baekhyun obviously remembers who he was and is very much aware of who he is now.





	(Byun & Park, 2018)

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:** BAE1338  
>  **Disclaimer: baeconandeggs/the mods is/are not the author/s of this story. Authors will be credited and tagged after reveals.** The celebrities' names/images are merely borrowed and do not represent who the celebrities are in real life. No offense is intended towards them, their families or friends. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this fictional work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
>   
> 
> **Author's Note:** I'm so glad I got to finish this! This is a product of all the stress that I've encountered all year, I think. However, I know I could've done more and could've written more about some other parts, so this story would somehow look like it was rushed (it is, I am admitting that). I feel like I just wrote a bunch of scenes and hoped for the best. So, to the prompter, I'm so sorry if I wasn't able to fulfill what you want :( I still do hope that you'd like it even if it's far from what you have expected. Never ending thanks to the mods for being understanding and giving me some time to finish this fic! I am very much grateful for it. To the readers, I hope you enjoy the story despite it looking rushed or out of direction. 
> 
> A little note, though: I do not have that much knowledge about the stuff indicated in here, particularly about journalism and philosophy, so I'm sorry about that. I hope I still gave justice to it, or at least, I hope half of the things here make some sense!

He’s doomed. He’s fucked. Bigtime.

And he wishes he was exaggerating, but he _wasn’t._ Because he was, without a doubt, in deepshit.

Chanyeol groans, crumples the piece of paper his professor gave him, and throws it to a near bin. He grabs all of his files with him, the stack of papers messily on top of each as he hugs it close to his chest with his arm and the other occupied with the strap of his laptop bag. He makes a turn towards the staircase, and just by his _fucking_ luck, someone bumps onto him, muttering a quick _sorry!_ to which Chanyeol doesn’t even try replying to because he was busy watching all of his paper fly all over the place, some of it even falling to the lowest floor, and _god fucking damn it,_ he was on the _fourth_ floor, and a lot of his papers were falling to the first.

_Great. Just great. Fantastic._

He opts to blame Jongdae for all of this.

Okay, sure, he’s the editor-in-chief for the Visionario, the school’s own student publication, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll expect him to do _everything_ just because he prioritizes the organization more than anything (yeah, writing is _life_ ). Well, sure, he has the reputation. He’s known for all that he had written, if all the people who had hated him for the articles that he had written was any indication of that, and god, he’s willing to do everything just to have Visionario intact, but _goddamnit_ not this way!

Not in the way that his grades are already slipping just because he had accepted too much work for the sake of having something _written_ for the weekly paper that they had to print and leave all over the university. He left the school in between classes, because apparently, all the other news writers of Visionario were unavailable since they had a thesis to work onto or some other pressing requirement that they had to attend to, and he actually let them do it (a fucking mistake!) just because he’s nice and understanding and all that. Plus, he thought that Jongdae, Visionario’s photojournalist, was willing to come with him, but he _fucking_ wasn’t. He left at the last minute, saying that Chanyeol’s a fucking big boy now who can function on his own without his help, and that he had to run off to somewhere important, leaving Chanyeol who _left_ his meeting with his thesis professor just so he can actually pass and verify all that he had to write for him to be able to graduate.

They could’ve survived that time if there were just the two of them moving around, and he would’ve let them off if they were busy for a few days because of their thesis, but it kept on happening again and again, until he’s just juggling it all alone, not attending to his classes, even going as far as having more haters (he’s _that_ popular) for all the gossips that he had written in the paper for the sake of having something to publish.

Now, halfway into writing another controversial article regarding an accused student who plagiarized a certain study, his thesis professor suddenly drops the bomb that he was failing his class because of non-compliance for all the progress that he had asked of them, and that there was a big chance that he will not graduate by the end of the year because of it.

He was ready to bawl his eyes then.

He was lucky, however, when his professor said that he can have the chance to comply to most of the requirements and pass it as soon as possible, the latest will be for a month (he says it’s better if he’ll finish it in a week or two, so that he’s sure that he’ll graduate and that means if he doesn’t comply to it by that, he’s a candidate for failure), like during the time everyone is merry and going their way, while he’s stuck doing his own work, for as long as he’ll have the suggested number (it was 50) of participants for the third chapter of his research and he’ll be able to finish it until the conclusion. He didn’t even have to beg for another chance (he had to), and he was just glad because he knew that if he had to just sit, plan, and look for people who were willing to be interviewed regarding the influence of media to their perspective and beliefs, then he’d actually be able to finish it all, transcribing each interview, and having to look for references that will support his findings. He stopped at around 30 participants, before all the chaos in Visionario had happened.

Just when he was already feeling optimistic after doing a publication material that states how he was looking for participants, another one of his professors, the one for Philosophy, had told him that he had missed his test and one of the deadlines for his project integrated with creative nonfiction. He had given him a slip that says that he’ll be having an INC in his card, unless he’ll be able to provide a valid reason and comply with all of the requirements and some additional work.

Yeah, he was the douchebag who gave him a paper that he had crumpled and thrown into a bin.

He didn’t even know he was enrolled in a Philosophy class this semester. He thought that he’s already done with it during his first years in the university. He wasn’t even interested in Philosophy, so he doesn’t know why it’s even part of his subjects. _What was he thinking!?_

Oh, god. He _is_ doomed.

Really, this is all Jongdae’s fault for leaving him behind to do all the work.

No, actually, this is all of the members of Visionario’s fault for expecting that he’ll be able to live on his own, and that they’ll be able to take advantage of his so-called _kindness, amazing leadership,_ and _understanding._ And Chanyeol, being the ever so resilient and responsible leader that he was, let them be, thinking that they’ll come around and initiate to do their part.

No, who was he kidding? This is entirely _his_ fault.

He’s being the bigger person now and he already swallowed his pride (a big move and a big word), just to admit that this was all his fault for accepting too much work and sacrificing his own life just to keep Visionario intact. Now, he’s dealing with all the consequences of his stupidity, wallowing in self-pity as he hugs all of his messy papers, only to bump into another person, resulting to another session of flying papers all over him. He watches it thrown all over him, as the man who bumps onto him stops and drops his bottle of water.

“What is it even today? National bumping day? Maybe I should’ve written a fucking article about that,” he says, sounding as tired and sarcastic as he can.

“Oh my god… I’m so sorry!” the guy says, picking up his bottle, to which Chanyeol looks at and sees some of his papers getting soaked because of the water that had spilled.

Chanyeol can only let out a cry, startling the guy in front of him, making him scamper. He looks at his papers, now soaked, with no hope of being dried up with the ink already smudged.

_Can this day get any worse?_

Of course it can.

“Hey, Jongdae said he’d be gone for a week to attend to some family matters, so you won’t be able to reach him if you needed him,” Sehun says, the moment he barges inside their shared room, dropping his bag on his side and placing his I.D on his table.

Chanyeol looks at him blankly, without even blinking, feeling as if all of his soul had left his body. Sehun looks at him, afraid with how Chanyeol’s large eyes were fixated on him, his mouth slightly agape, like he was a zombie who didn’t understand a single shit happening around him. Chanyeol suddenly lets out a sob, alarming Sehun.

“Hey, man, are you okay?”

Chanyeol lies down on his bed, curls, and lets out another sob. “Is this how it feels like to welcome death in my life?”

Sehun was looking at him with wide eyes, unmoving. “Seriously, man… are you okay?”

“Tell Jongdae to piss off and _go die_ ,”  Chanyeol says, letting out a cry.

“Oof. No need to go violent, warrior.”

“How is he even going to be gone for a week? It’s already finals!”

“Well, they have to finish their paper since there’s a big possibility that theirs will be chosen for a conference. That. Or he had to go home and attend to something personal, I’m honestly not sure. He said that most graduating students don’t even have written tests for finals, and are just required to pass something online for finals… right?”

“ _Son of a bitch…”_ Chanyeol mutters and Sehun feels himself shiver with how much emphasis he had said it. It’s gone immediately when Chanyeol lets out a cry. “I’m never going to graduate, Sehun! My life has ended! This is the _end_ of an _era._ ”

Sehun, alarmed, strides to his side and carefully sits on the edge of his bed. Chanyeol looks at him for a second, before he buries his face on his knees, shaking.

“What the heck are you talking about, man?” Sehun asks incredulously. He remembers Chanyeol staying up all night, effectively disrupting his sleep with his all the loud typing noises that he did. Chanyeol goes home late and wakes up early, so Sehun couldn’t exactly fathom how Chanyeol thought that he wasn’t going to graduate. “How… how exactly did this happen? I mean, you’re smart, you’re always up at god knows what time, and you wake up so damn early that I _loathed_ your alarm. So… how?”

“Staying up late and waking up early doesn’t guarantee a passing grade, Sehun,” Chanyeol says, sitting up. “That. And I was caught up writing for Visionario because my writers were _too_ busy to even do something about it. Had to skip classes and all that.”

“Visionario… the gossip paper?” Sehun immediately dodges the pillow thrown at him and chuckles. Chanyeol gives him a glare and lies down again, sighing. “What did your adviser say about this? Don’t you guys have that?”

“Mr. Kim doesn’t know jackshit about this, so shut your mouth.”

“Even the content? He doesn’t go and check it? No offense, dude, but the amount of people who want to strangle you isn’t actually normal. Seriously. How does this even work?” Sehun asked him, to which Chanyeol replied with a shrug. “Wow, you’re an idiot.”

“Thanks, dude.”

Sehun looks at him, pitying the way Chanyeol looks so lost in his own bed. “Just what did your professor say?”

Chanyeol suddenly sits up and smacks his palm on Sehun’s mouth, earning a wince from the other guy. “Correction, Sehun. It’s professor _s,_ with an _s._ It’s plural.”

Sehun slaps the arm away and raises his hands in defeat. “Alright, sorry. I didn’t know it was _that_ bad. Just what the fuck did you do for everything go downhill?”

“Well, okay, let’s see. I think this started a month ago— _don’t look at me like that!_ ” Chanyeol says, when he sees Sehun giving him a judging look. Sehun shrugs and motions his hand for Chanyeol to go on. “Okay, so, apparently, the moment that I started prioritizing Visionario was also the same time that all of our requirements had been given. And okay, it’s finals already, so I should’ve expected being bombarded with a lot of things, but _nooo,_ I chose to actually let the other writers have their own break, while I should’ve been prioritizing my _own_ requirements, and like, manage my time—Jesus, who does that—and _their_ time, so that none of us had to sacrifice anything.

But alas! I still let them go, since I’m such a nice EIC, and _fuck,_ I didn’t realize that it has been a month since no one had tried to approach me and like, submit stuff, so I had to attend to it, and have something submitted. And then, I totally forgot about the existence of my courses, and I wasn’t able to meet my thesis professor and comply to what he wanted, and so, he like, marched in my life and dropped the bomb, and said that I’m about to fail and that there’s a fat chance that I won’t be graduating. But he gave me another chance, so I was like, okay that’s cool, I can do it, _but then_ another professor appears, and says that I was going to _fail_ Philosophy, since I wasn’t able to take most of his tests and I failed to pass my project that was integrated with creative nonfiction _._ I didn’t even know I enrolled to a Philosophy class, for fuck’s sake! I should’ve dropped that thing the second I enrolled. And _fuck!_ My life is over.”

Chanyeol was panting when he finished telling his side of the story.

“Couldn’t you at least lessen the amount of Visionario papers that you were to pass around? I mean, before, that publication didn’t have the need to publish every other week. They post online, like, once to thrice a week, or whenever they needed to, but they never really made that much paper to give to everyone… It would’ve made your life easier, if all you had to do was post, you know… and also you’re gonna help the environment at some point.”

“The people are already forgetting print media. Think about the people who work for that, man. Plus, I wanted to have some _change,_ Sehun. The EIC last year wasn’t exactly promising and responsible.”

“And are you promising and responsible right now?”

“I try to be.”

“By publishing _gossips_? And accusations? Is that what is being taught to you?”

“Well, I had to take the matters into my hands, or else _nothing_ will happen. I mean, it’s still factual, you know? I wasn't even being biased. I just listened to everyone and what they have to say.”

“Listening to a bunch of college students gossip about something isn’t exactly considered as _factual._ I can’t believe you haven’t been reported at this point,” Sehun says, shaking his head, remembering one of his blockmates tearing the weekly Visionario paper apart when he saw something controversial about him. Sehun sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Sometimes, I feel like you’re exaggerating, and that’s not exactly the case. Like, I feel like this whole situation you’re in right now shouldn’t have happened. Or _didn’t_ happen. I don’t know. It’s like you want others to be in the wrong or something.”

Chanyeol narrows his eyes at him. “Okay, so _maybe,_ I got lazy. At some point. And like, I skipped _some_ of my classes, since I didn’t feel like it and I didn’t have anything to show to my professors. And what about it?”

“You’re a dumbass,” Sehun comments, to which Chanyeol scoffs at, muttering _I’m older than you,_ which Sehun pointedly ignored. Sehun looks at the bags under his eyes, the way his body was at the risk of falling, and the occasional yawning he did. “You look dead.”

“I _feel_ dead.”

“What time did you even sleep?”

“Around, uh…” Chanyeol spaces out, and he stares blankly at Sehun, his mouth agape.

“Please don’t tell me you haven’t slept yet since the moment I woke up at 9 AM,” Sehun says, and the _uh_ suddenly gets longer and higher. He finds himself smacking his roommate’s forehead, easily making him lie down on his bed. “I’m going to smack you on the face, just so you’ll knock out and _sleep,_ for the love of god! No wonder you’re so negative right now. You should rest. It’s affecting your mood.”

“Don’t go psychology on me now,” Chanyeol whispers, his eyes slowly closing, and he lets out a sigh before dozing off.

Sehun sighs and looks around. Chanyeol’s papers were all over the place, including his bag, and his laptop was dangerously placed on the edge of his desk.

As much as he _loathes_ cleaning…

Looks like he’s got some cleaning to do.

 

 

“You’re so creepy when you sleep. Your eyes are open,” Sehun says from his desk when he notices Chanyeol slowly sitting up, massaging his temples. “I think, at some point of your 5-hour sleep, you were having a sword fight with your professor. I mean, I’m not exactly sure who you were fighting with, but it _was_ a sword fight, with sound effects and all that.”

“The fuck are you saying, man? I didn’t even have a dream,” Chanyeol grumbles, standing up to get a glass of water. He stops abruptly, spinning around to look at Sehun with wide eyes. “Or maybe everything was a dream! Tell me I’m not failing. Tell me I—“

“You’re failing. It wasn’t a dream,” Sehun says bluntly. Chanyeol groans and gives him a glare before turning around again and go back to his agenda. Sehun hears him whispering stuff and he just chuckles. “Welcome back to the reality. It hurts and it sucks.”

“Fuck you,” Chanyeol replies, slamming his glass with so much force that Sehun thought he had broken it, but to his relief, the glass was still intact. Sehun looks at his roommate and sees him wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and strides towards him just to wipe it on his hoodie.

Sehun scrunches his nose in disgust. “You’re fucking disgusting. And to think that I cleaned your stuff and organized it. I even dried some of your papers… and this is what you do to me? How ungrateful.”

“You? Cleaning?” Chanyeol replies in surprise. He looks around, and true to what Sehun said, his things that he had carelessly thrown when he entered their shared room was now neatly placed on his side of the room, stacks of paper were on his desk, and his laptop was properly placed beside it. Chanyeol slaps his friend’s arm and Sehun winces from the pain that his heavy hand had caused. “I’m so lucky to have you as my roommate, I swear! Junmyeon—my last roommate— _hated_ cleaning, so this is something new.”

“I don’t really like cleaning too…” _He didn’t exactly have the choice._

“Doesn’t matter! You still did!”

Sehun rolls his eyes and goes back to what he was reading. Chanyeol picks up his paper, checking to see if there were any of help for him or if there were some that survived the _fall_. If he remembers it correctly, he had his thesis draft among it, and he _needs_ to edit his paper.

He sees a different draft, though. It was an article he was doing for Visionario. The one that had a guy being accused of plagiarism, copying almost half of their own paper. He doesn’t remember placing a picture in the article, but he guesses, he’d done it in a rush, just to find something that can accompany the article. Or maybe it was Jongdae who gave it when he had asked a photograph. The guy was familiar, with his dress shirt properly tucked in, clean cut hair, and certificate held in one of his hands. He feels like he had seen him before, but he can’t quite point out where or how.

Nonetheless, he thinks the guy can help. With Philosophy and research in one place, he _knows_ this guy will be of help.

“Hey, Sehun, do you know this guy?”

“Huh?” Sehun replies absentmindedly, and Chanyeol, impatient as always, slams the paper on his desk, effectively catching his attention. Sehun huffs in annoyance, pointedly looking at Chanyeol, before he averts his gaze to the paper that Chanyeol had forcefully want him to see. “Move your stupid hand. I can’t see what you’re trying to show me.”

Chanyeol removes his hand, just to point at the guy at the picture. “Here. This guy.”

Sehun squints his eyes and lights up when he recognizes the face. “Oh, yeah. Byun Baekhyun. He was one of my classmates for an elective. I forgot what it was, but I do remember that he majors in philosophy and that he’s a really smart guy. He’s always answering and asking. Really, there’s never a day in which we don’t hear his voice. Others found it annoying, but it was okay. He was just curious and eager to learn.”

Chanyeol wasn’t listening to half of the things that he said. He stopped listening at the part where Sehun said that _he majors in philosophy and that he’s a really smart guy._ Chanyeol smiles. _A philosophy major_ and _someone who has a reputation in research…_ amazing. Fantastic.

Sehun notices Chanyeol not paying attention to him and sighs. He snaps his fingers in front of him, shaking his head when Chanyeol grins at him. “You are insufferable. Why did I even try?”

“Do you think he’ll be willing to help me?” he asks, smiling as he looks at the man on the paper, his fingers tracing the title that he had made, his eyes lingering to the small smile plastered on the guy’s face. “I mean, he’s exactly the person that I need!”

Sehun looks at Chanyeol, at the paper that he had slammed on his desk, and back again at Chanyeol, now with an expression that Chanyeol finds annoying. “Stop judging me!”

“I’m not, but… if you’re going to write an article about him accusing him of something that he supposedly did, I don’t think he’d bat an eye on you…” Sehun points out. Chanyeol snatches the paper from him, crumpling it and stuffing it in his back pocket. Sehun shakes his head and asks, “Where did you even get that information? I don’t think it’s something that the guy could do.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Chanyeol says, turning his back on him only to lie down on his side of the bed and look at the paper he was holding, the smiling face of the guy slowly being engraved to his mind. He frowns, looking at face closely. “Why does he look so familiar…”

“What?” Sehun asks, thinking that Chanyeol had said something directed to him.

Chanyeol looks at him and smiles. “Nothing. I just thought that this guy is familiar.”

“Well, our campus isn’t exactly a big place, you know? You might’ve met him in between or something. Especially since the both of you are from the same year _and_ in the same building,” Sehun replies to him, shrugging. “Maybe you met him in one of those seminars the other orgs have done. Or you’ve read about him in your writers’ articles, since he’s pretty well-known. Or, I don’t know, when you were a freshman and had your orientation?”

 _Articles…_ yeah, he had seen him there… but he thinks that’s not just it.

 _Seminars…_ nah. He doesn’t remember Philosophy majors being with them.

 _Orientation…_ there was nothing special that day except—

Chanyeol sits up, his eyes wide and mouth agape as he slowly looks at Sehun, horrified when he remembers the time he talked to a certain freshman (it was Baekhyun) and had _accidentally_ called him stupid just because he spilled some of his hot choco on his new _black_ hoodie.

Maybe he was overreacting that time, since it wasn’t that evident, but he was sort of (read: really) rude and proud during those times and thought that it was cool to be like that.

Okay, just in case anyone’s judging him right now for how stupid and highschool-like he was, he wants to come clean and say that he had learned and he wasn’t the same person that he was before.

But the guy doesn’t know that and there’s a _big_ possibility that the guy had grudges.

“ _Why?_ ” he whines, smacking his forehead and letting out a dramatic cry. “ _Why am I so stupid?_ ”

“What now?” Sehun says exasperatedly, looking at Chanyeol who’s letting out another sob. “What the fuck did you do now? You were literally lying down. How can you even do something stupid by doing that?”

“Sehun,” Chanyeol calls out, his voice shaky, and Sehun had to roll his eyes with how Chanyeol looks like. “Sehun, he’s not going to help me! This is the end! There’s no hope!”

“Why do you even need help? Most of the things that you have to do are individual—“

“Shh. You don’t _know_ how it feels like to have no idea what you’re doing, okay? Okay!”

Sehun wants to say that he knows how it feels, but then again, Chanyeol wasn’t exactly listening to him. He sighs and fights the urge to smack his friend on the face. “What did you even do to the guy for you to react like this?”

Chanyeol looks at him, before dramatically crying and looking at the ceiling. “I called him _stupid_ , Sehun.”

“ _What the fuck!?_ ” Sehun exclaims, his brows furrowing. “How? How did this happen? That guy literally competes in competitions and can answer a goddamn test without even studying. The guy’s like… a genius. How can he even be stupid?”

“He spilled some hot choco on me when he bumped onto me back at the freshmen orientation. I called him stupid because of it.”

“I think _you’re_ the one who’s stupid.”

Chanyeol sighs and silently agrees. Of all the people he had to treat that way…

“He’s not going to help me, Sehun. What if he remembers who I am and uses it against me?”

“Of course he’ll remember who you are,” Sehun says and Chanyeol glares at him. He shrugs and looks at his readings again. As he highlights a specific phrase, he says, “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. He’s a nice guy… although, I’m not sure if he’s gonna be nice to you, if you’re going to publish a paper about something that I think he didn’t even do…”

_Paper._

He looks at the draft that he has. _Philosophy Student, Accused of Plagiarism._

Huh. He has something to use all along.

He grins a little devilishly and Sehun sees it. “Why do I feel like you’re about to do something stupid again?”

“Shush. I just found a way.”

“What are you going to do?”

Sehun grimaces when Chanyeol smirks and winks at him. “Just trust me on this. You’ll see.”

 

 

Looking for the Baekhyun guy wasn’t exactly easy.

Since they were in the same building, he knew where to go and who to ask, and thought that everything was going to be a piece of cake.

He drops his bag on his seat and immediately goes out of their room to head on to the rooms of the Philosophy majors. It wasn’t that hard to take a peak to one of their doors, since there were only two sections who took up the said major. However, he didn’t see Baekhyun’s face (he stared at the picture last night just to memorize how he looks like), and only a few people were in the room, busy with their laptops.

He was about to lose hope when he sees a familiar face about to enter to the room next to where he was. “Yixing! Hey!”

The said man stops and turns to look at him. He makes a small wave with his hand holding a bottle. “Hey, Chanyeol. I just had to refill my bottle. What’s up?”

Chanyeol gets distracted by it. “Oh, cool. Is the water cold? Or nah?”

“It’s cold, thank god. It’s really hot in the campus right now, so this lessens it,” Yixing replies and hugs the bottle to his chest.  “Anyway, I don’t think you went here just to ask whether the water is cold or not. What’s up?”

“Uh, right… _right._ Do you… um…” he starts, scratching the back of his neck, unsure of how he’ll ask without being creepy, and Yixing leans slightly just to catch what he was saying. He clears his throat and straightens his posture. “Do you know who Baekhyun is?”

“Yeah, of course. Don’t you?”

 _I called him stupid, so I guess I_ should _know who he was._ But Yixing doesn’t have to know that.  And he doesn’t really know who Baekhyun _truly_ was not until the recent coming back of a memory. “No… Not until now, at least. Should I?”

Yixing was looking at him as if he couldn’t believe someone didn’t know the _great_ Byun Baekhyun.

“You’re the EIC of the Visionario, right?” Yixing asks him, an amused smile on his face. Chanyeol nods dumbly at him. “Baekhyun has numerous awards and stuff that he can be recognized. Like, something that he can actually contribute to the school. I think Visionario had talked about him a couple of times… how can you not know him?”

 _Figures… he also asked himself the same thing._ Maybe he was just too busy correcting most of the entries that he didn’t have the time to memorize the name. Or, he just didn’t give it a glance since it was a name. And he didn’t have to correct it in anyway. The name was familiar, sure, but he didn’t really try to know who he was.

“I’m not really good with names, and… I usually just focus more on the technical aspect of the writing, so…” Chanyeol tries to explain and Yixing only raises a brow at him. He looks away and clears his throat. “Anyways, is Baekhyun here? I kinda need to talk to him.”

“He hasn’t been here since yesterday, actually. He’s kind of a busy person.”

Chanyeol pouts. “Alright. Well, thanks for the help, Yixing!”

Yixing nods and waves his hand. Chanyeol turns around only to bump into someone and had the other man’s face meet his chest. And Chanyeol, when he was just about to apologize, feels something hot on his sleeve and he immediately pushes the person that had collided against him and groans. “Ugh! You’re so—“

“— _Stupid?_ ” an amused voice finishes his sentence. Chanyeol snaps his head to look at the owner of the voice, his eyes widening at the sight.

_Is this really…_

“Hey, Baekhyun! I didn’t notice you coming this way! You came just in time!” Yixing says from behind him. He gets surprised when the said man holds him by his arm and says, “My friend Chanyeol has been looking for you. Chanyeol, this is Baekhyun. Baekhyun, this is Chanyeol, the EIC of Visionario.”

A smirk appears on the guy’s face. “Yeah, I know him.”

Chanyeol still couldn't move. Or speak. His eyes  were glued to the man who was looking at him with an amused glint in his eyes.

“Well, this is my cue to leave. The food can’t wait. See ya when I see ya, Chanyeol!” Yixing says, giggling and patting his butt as goodbye, and Chanyeol _couldn’t_ even say goodbye to him and slap his hand away, not sure of how he was going to act in front of Baekhyun.

Baekhyun, whom he have called stupid.

Baekhyun, who _remembers_ it, if the way he had finished his sentence was any indication of it.

Chanyeol feels his cheeks heat up.

“So, Chanyeol, the EIC of Visionario, why were you looking for me?”

He still couldn’t speak. Somehow, the way his eyes gleam, the amused smirk, and his soft voice, was doing something to him that he can’t exactly explain why.

_What the fuck._

Park Chanyeol didn’t expect Baekhyun to look like this. He had expected him to have the usual round glasses, black hair, and an awfully clean and ironed dress shirt that makes him look like an overachiever and a professional, the same image that he had seen in his draft article and the previous ones.

But the man in front of him was wearing an oversized black hoodie, with a print that says _Brainwashed,_ fitted jeans, and round glasses that complement his overall look.

And his hair was cotton candy pink.

He didn’t even _know_ they were allowed to have such hair color.

“We aren’t, but I had to dye my hair for a part time job,” Baekhyun says, and he realizes he had voiced out the part where he was wondering about his hair color. Baekhyun shrugs. “I’ll be dyeing it back to brown later.”

“The pink suits you…” he says absentmindedly and his eyes widen when he realizes what he had just said.

“Thank you,” Baekhyun says softly, chuckling. He looks at Chanyeol and still had that smile that Chanyeol wants to rip off his face. “So, I don’t think you came here to check on my hair color and compliment me,” he laughs when Chanyeol turns beet red, but he doesn’t make any remark about it. “What brings you here? Why were you looking for me?”

_Speak, Chanyeol. Oh my god. You’ve embarrassed yourself enough._

“Or are you here to call me stupid or something? I’d—“

“No!” Chanyeol sputters in reply, shaking his hand in denial. He can feel his ears turn hot and he fights the urge to cover it. “That’s not it. I’m, um, sorry about that.”

“Really? After _four_ years?”

The guy had grudges, alright. It was infuriating, the way the amused smirk never really left his lips. He wants to wipe that thing off his face and let it never be seen.

But Chanyeol bit the inside of his cheek just to prevent himself from saying something rude all over again.

_Breathe, Chanyeol. Breathe. You need something from this guy and you’re not exactly going to get what you want if you act all bullshit on him._

“Yeah, better late than never?” Chanyeol says and laughs nervously. He clears his throat when he sees Baekhyun raise an eyebrow at him. “I’m, uh… I actually need your help.”

“Huh. Never knew this day would come,” Baekhyun says, before he brings his cup to his lips and brings it down as if he had realized something. “I’m sorry, by the way, about the hot choco that had spilled on your sleeve. Today and then.”

Chanyeol looks at Baekhyun, still unable to comprehend how Baekhyun is so different from what he had expected. From the way Sehun had described him, he thought of him as some quiet, reserved, warm, approachable, and proper person who’d just let the other person talk.

Not as a sarcastic, slightly annoying, snarky, intimidating guy that was standing in front of him.

“So, Chanyeol, what do you need help with?” Baekhyun asks when he noticed that Chanyeol was just looking at him intently. He snaps his fingers in front of him. “Hello, Chanyeol? Are you with me?”

“I’m sorry. I’m just, uh, really preoccupied and troubled,” he reasons out, not sure of how he’ll be able to convince Baekhyun. If any of his puppy eyes or acting won’t work, he’ll pull out the big guns and do the plan that he had thought of last night.

He clears his throat. “I—uh—a friend of mine said that you were good in, um, your major. Philosophy, right? And I know you are good and known for it, your writings, and academic research, and I thought you can help me?”

“I don’t do tutoring. Sorry—“

“It’s—It’s not tutoring! I swear! I just, um,” Chanyeol averts his gaze from the man’s intent one’s. He clears his throat and scratches the back of his head. “I just need some guide, like some help, just so I’ll have an idea of how I’ll be able to do all of this.”

“That’s still tutoring. Guide or whatever,” Baekhyun points out. The smirk on his lips gone, replaced by a frown. “Unless you’re implying that I should finish those for you. The answer is still the same but with more emphasis: No.”

Chanyeol thinks that Baekhyun thinks so highly of himself. He wants to roll his eyes at him and express his annoyance, to say that he isn’t as smart and needed he was.

“No need to be so cocky, smartass,” he whispers absentmindedly but judging by the way Baekhyun had freezed, he had heard what he said. Chanyeol immediately waves his hand in defense. “I’m sorry. T-that wasn’t for you—“

“No need to lie and say half-hearted sorrys, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun says and takes a step forward, his chin high as he looks at Chanyeol directly on his eyes. “You know why I don’t want to help you?” Chanyeol doesn’t say anything and waits for Baekhyun to speak and he holds his breath because Baekhyun was too intimidating and too close that he isn’t sure of how he’ll act. It was like one wrong move and he’s dead. “It’s because I don’t like you, Chanyeol.”

“ _What?_ ” Chanyeol steps back. “Is it because I called you—“

“No, it’s not because of that. I’m not that petty or childish.”

He breathes heavily before he lets out a small, “Then why?”

Not that the concept of people not liking him was anything new. He had a handful of people who had expressed their anger at him because of his recent articles and views, saying that they hate him, and whatnot. It’s not something new. He doesn’t give a damn, anyway. They could hate all they want and he’ll still write something for the sake of the publication.

It’s more of the fact that Baekhyun had said it with so much conviction, as if it’s been like that for so long, and to think that they have only interacted during their orientation, Chanyeol wondered if Baekhyun had held grudges for so long that he had only let it out now.

But then Baekhyun said that it wasn’t because of that.

_Then why?_

“Jongdae said you were toxic. Still are. And I don’t exactly like being associated with people like you.”

“You shouldn’t believe Jongdae. He’s not exactly the definition of credible,” Chanyeol answers defensively, finding the need to come clean to the guy.

Besides, he wasn’t toxic. He never was, at least, in his own opinion.

“And _you_ are?” Baekhyun asks incredulously. Chanyeol takes a step back. “With all the articles that you have written recently? And, I guess, the past ones too?”

Chanyeol doesn’t answer, his eyes downcast, feeling guilty. This was _worse_ than all of the comments that he had received the past week. Somehow, he feels small under the gaze of the man.

“What a joke.”

His hand was on his pocket, holding onto something tightly. If Baekhyun tries to say something more, he’s going to do what he was planning. And even if he thinks he shouldn’t, he was desperate. He knows he can ask for other people’s help, but somehow, the way Baekhyun aggravates him and the way he’s proven how wise he was makes him want to get back to him and prove that he was much more than the person he’s looking down on.

“I just need a little help, that’s all. I just want to graduate,” his voice was small, a whisper, and it was a miracle how that had sounded as such. He sounded _desperate._ He wasn’t used to this. He can act all confident and still be in need of help, using most of his words as an advantage, but never did he feel small and humiliated.

Baekhyun shakes his head and laughs, mocking him. He turns around to go back to their classroom. “I don’t have time for this. I have a paper to finish—“

“The plagiarized one?” Chanyeol mutters before he can even stop himself.

Baekhyun freezes and looks at him, his brows furrowed with what he had heard. “Excuse me?”

He looked agitated. It gave Chanyeol a sense of satisfaction to see the guy’s overconfident aura and infuriating smirk gone. He felt like he won. That he was, at last, in the advantage.

Chanyeol brings out what he has been holding onto. It was the draft that he had written. He thought that it was going to be handy. Like, if Baekhyun wasn’t going to agree with him, he’ll use it as a weapon.

He’s not as wise as what he thinks now, huh.

He unfolds the paper in front of Baekhyun and the guy was watching him closely, his eyes narrowing as he watches it unfold. Chanyeol smirks, to Baekhyun’s much dismay. Chanyeol hands it to the guy and Baekhyun looks at it with a frown. “You’re not as clean and perfect as you think you are, apparently.”

“That’s a picture of you… crying. Are you okay?” Baekhyun points out, his eyebrow raised in amusement, with a hint of worry in his eyes.

“What!?” Chanyeol’s eyes widen and he immediately looks at what he had shown Baekhyun. He felt his blood rush out of his body when he sees a picture of himself, holding onto his laptop, with a dramatic and overly-emphasized tear visible on the side of his cheek. He flips the paper and sees that it was where the article was printed.

He fucking printed his draft on an already used paper, coincidentally the one that had a picture of him looking humiliating as fuck.

Why did he even have that kind of picture, for fuck’s sake?

He clears his throat and tries to regain his confident self from a while ago. He shoves the paper on Baekhyun’s face, making sure that it was the article that he had written about him. “Philosophy student, accused of plagiarism? Oh, no. That’s just terrible. A taint to your perfect reputation. I’m so disappointed, Baekhyunnie,” Chanyeol sarcastically says, a mocking grin visible on his face. Now it was Baekhyun’s turn to have the urge to wipe that thing off of his face.

“That’s not even true. Pretty sure you weren’t even able to provide evidences with that because such thing doesn’t and _shouldn’t_ even exist. No one’s going to believe you.”

“But you know how people are nowadays. They believe what they see, as long as it was something that is new to them. They thrive for someone to be in a mess. And you, my smartass, being accused of something as big as this will be a talk of the school. Not only by the students, but also… by the teachers. It won’t be good on your records once you graduate.”

“Fuck you.”

Chanyeol fake gasps. “Oh, I’m so scared, Baekhyun. Are you threatening me?”

Baekhyun glares at him. “I told you. That thing isn’t true, so I don’t understand why something like that exists,” he tells him, and Chanyeol merely shrugs, and it annoys Baekhyun how he was acting so cocky and all-knowing that he can’t even defend himself for something that he didn’t even do. “You know, you’re just proving that Jongdae’s right. That you’re toxic and insufferable. Blackmailing people and spreading bullshit about them.”

“Well, you think of me as such, and I think you plagiarized someone else’s work, so we’re pretty much even in making each other look bad,” Chanyeol says, annoying Baekhyun even more. It was really satisfying for Chanyeol to see him different from the composed and sarcastic person that he was a while ago. Chanyeol laughs and turns around, waving the paper up on the air to annoy Baekhyun even more. “I’m off to go, since you’re not willing to help me. Don’t want to waste my time and yours. I still have to pass my requirements and I still have an article and a dozen more to publish, so—“

“Fine!” Chanyeol hears Baekhyun say reluctantly. He immediately stops, his back still turned back on the guy, but he felt himself grinning from ear to ear when he had heard it. “I’ll help you. Just… just please don’t go around showing people that.”

Chanyeol remains on his place, still not looking at Baekhyun. He waits for him to add some more, just to convince _him_ to do what he wants.

“I have errands to do today, so I can’t help you now,” Baekhyun says and Chanyeol just keeps listening. Baekhyun sighs. “I can help you by tomorrow, though. My class ends at 6 PM. Bring anything that you need and I’ll help you. I expect you to be at the library by that time, and if you aren’t then it’s over. I won’t help you and you won’t spread that thing all around.”

Chanyeol spins around and salutes to him. “Will do, commander!”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes at the gesture. “I don’t even know why I’m doing this when I know I didn’t do anything wrong...”

“It’s because you care for me and you wish you’ll see me on the stage along with my other colleagues,” Chanyeol cheekily says, with an accompanying wink, and he thinks it was worth it upon seeing the guy giving him another glare.

“In your fucking dreams, Park Chanyeol.”

 

 

Chanyeol raises an eyebrow when he sees Baekhyun’s scowling face moving towards him.

“Hey, there’s my favorite smartass,” Chanyeol greets him with a wink. “I didn’t exactly expect to see you. I suddenly feel _so_ good. It feels like I’ve suddenly seen  the actual physical proof of hope in here. _It exists._ ”

Baekhyun drags a chair out from under the table and places all of his stuff in another, sitting across Chanyeol as he angrily opens his laptop and taps on something on his keyboard. He did this while glaring at Chanyeol.

Chanyeol smirks, undeterred. He gazes at the guy’s now brown hair and back again to his face. He leans back. “Your brown hair looks good. I’m guessing that’s what the errand you did yesterday?”

“I do _not_ have time for childish banter, Park Chanyeol,” Baekhyun spats at him. “Nor do I even have the time to make small talk with you, so why don’t you just show me whatever the fuck you need help with and end this thing as soon as possible?”

Chanyeol shrugs and takes out his notebook. “We should start with Philosophy, I guess. Then we can just get on with my thesis later—“

“Wait, wait, stop. _What?_ ” Baekhyun says and his frown gets deeper. Chanyeol raises a brow at him as if he wondered why Baekhyun had suddenly acted as such. “I thought I was only going to help you with Philosophy, but why are you even talking about your thesis paper?”

“Because you’re going to help me with that too?” Chanyeol answers as if it was obvious. “I thought I made that clear already.”

“ _Nothing_ about this ordeal is clear!” Baekhyun expresses. “Helping you with your thesis is not part of this whole _thing._ I will _not_ help you, alright. That’s your own work to do and I don’t think writing stuff for others is correct.”

“But plagiarizing is?”

Baekhyun looks at him pointedly. “I told you. I did no such thing.”

“But here we are…” Chanyeol says, shrugging. “Anyways, Byun, whether it’s true or not, now that you’re here, you’re going to help me.”

“So fucking self-centered,” Baekhyun whispers, but Chanyeol hears it anyway, given that they were sitting too near to each other. “Tell me, are you a Sagittarius?”

Chanyeol raises a brow at him. “How’d you know?”

“It shows,” Baekhyun scoffs. He doesn’t give Chanyeol a chance to retort. “Anyway, where do you wanna start?” he asks, reaching for one of the books that he had brought, unsure of what was going to be useful. Baekhyun frowns and looks at Chanyeol when he doesn’t hear an answer. Chanyeol was just looking at him with an unreadable expression. “What the fuck are you looking at? Are we gonna waste our time here?”

Chanyeol snaps back to reality. He was momentarily dazed, thinking how Baekhyun was still here, willing to help him despite saying that what was accused of him was not true. “Just thought of something, Byun. Don’t get so mad,” he answers when he feels Baekhyun kick him from underneath. “We should start with Philosophy. I kinda have to start from that part since I have to take the test and I have to write a story about it, so…”

“What exactly about it, again? What topic?”

“Mostly about social and political philosophy, then existentialism, phenomenology, and reality. I think? I mean… that’s what my professor indicated in his syllabus.”

“All that in _one_ semester?” Baekhyun asks, shaking his head. Chanyeol nods, pouting. “How they managed to fit that in one semester, I will never know.”

“I’ll never know too, since I didn’t pay much attention to the course. Nor did I ever go to the class, I guess. I’ll never have an idea of it.”

“Why’d you even enroll to the course?”

“I have no idea.”

“Do you even _like_ Philosophy?”

“I have no idea.”

“Do you have any idea of _anything_?”

“I have no idea.”

Baekhyun grumbles when he realizes that Chanyeol was teasing him.

“You’re such a fucking dumbass,” he finds himself saying. He doesn’t normally say that to people, but seeing Chanyeol’s stupid smile directed towards him and all of his nonsense, he just _felt_ like saying it. Filter be damned.

“And you, commander, are a smartass,” Chanyeol retorts. Baekhyun was fuming and Chanyeol was satisfied. “We make a damn good pair.”

Baekhyun steps on his foot as an answer.

 

 

 

Baekhyun, to Chanyeol’s surprise, still complies to their meetups.

It’s been 3 days since they started their session, and truthfully, Chanyeol feels like he’s learned more than he was in class. Most of their meetings lasted for an hour or so, and Chanyeol appreciates the fact that Baekhyun was patient with him despite all of his teasing.

It was just satisfying to see him fume or roll his eyes at him. It’s as if the moment he opens his mouth, Baekhyun loses his composure.

Plus, Baekhyun actually had connections. He mentioned one time during their 5-minute break (Yeah, Baekhyun made him adapt to the pomodoro technique. Chanyeol said it was too late for that, but Baekhyun wasn’t listening) that he needed participants for his research. When Chanyeol told him what his topic was, he had raised his eyebrow in amusement and said that he knew a handful of people who would be willing to help him.

_“Yeah, I know a lot of people who have been brainwashed by articles. Most of them are your readers, I think. Good job brainwashing them.”_

Chanyeol wanted to hit him and at the same time hug him for knowing people who can help him for his research. He was ecstatic and thankful, but he won’t let Baekhyun know that. His online post had helped too, a few people approaching him and saying that they were interested of it.

He’s actually kind of excited at the idea of meeting up with Baekhyun. He feels like the guy was slowly warming up to him, but then he’d suddenly remind him of his stupid articles and his failures, effectively popping all of his bubbles. He would often say how others would have been disappointed of his work, how there were others affected by it, and it _should_ hurt him, thinking how he was a disgrace in his own field, but he wasn’t really up to regretting his life decisions in front of Baekhyun.

He gets back to him, anyway, and reminds him of his supposed-to-be plagiarized study. Baekhyun would sometimes hit him with his pen or stomp his foot, and it would be worth it.

He _really_ feels some weird satisfaction to see Baekhyun all riled up because of him.

Maybe today he can do the same.

He sees him hunched, wearing his round glasses as he closely looks at the screen of his laptop. He was typing furiously, unaware of his surroundings and Chanyeol’s heavy footsteps.

Of course, Chanyeol, being the tall piece of shit that he was, takes this as an opportunity to put his hands on the guy’s shoulders and whispers, “Boo.”

Baekhyun hits him with the back of his hand out of reflex.

“Ow! God, you hit so hard. Is there a bruise by now?” Chanyeol asks and leans his cheeks closer to Baekhyun to which the guy merely pushes away, his cheeks turning red as he looks away from Chanyeol.

Chanyeol chuckles amusingly and goes to the chair across Baekhyun. His cheeks were still red as he types for a few more seconds. _Cute._

“Ugh. I should be sorry, but if it’s you, then I’m not,” Baekhyun says and closes the document he was focusing on. He glares at Chanyeol and points his pen at him accusingly. “You’re 28 minutes late. I could’ve done a lot of things by that time. Where have you been?”

“Should I feel flattered that you were religiously waiting for me to the point that you’re _very_ exact with how late was I?” Chanyeol teases and Baekhyun threateningly throws his pen at him. Chanyeol looks to his side and covers his face, just in case Baekhyun actually throws it at him. He laughs when the guy grumbles. “I’m just kidding, Byun. Don’t be so violent. I was just hiding from Professor Kim. I didn’t want to see him after practically inboxing him for three days straight. He was in the hallways and he was literally talking with a student there for like 20 minutes, and I had to fucking hide in one of the stalls restroom like I’m some constipated shit. I did _not_ appreciate the three people who knocked and complained with how much I was taking my time.”

“Why are you even ignoring your own professor?” Baekhyun asks, his nose scrunched in disgust upon hearing him talk about being stuck in the restroom. He gazes at Chanyeol simply sitting in front of him, his bag placed beside his chair. “And will you set your things up already? We’ve wasted a lot of time already. I kinda wanna go back to my dorm early today, so...”

Chanyeol shrugs and takes out his things. “I just didn’t want to meet him, that’s all. Mainly since I’m afraid of what’s he going to say. I think he already found out or something. Or that maybe the other professors have mentioned that I was already failing, I don’t know…”

“You should talk to him instead of running away from him,” Baekhyun advices and taps on the timer on his phone to start their session. “Nothing’s gonna happen if you keep on avoiding your problems. One way or another, he’ll still know what’s up. I’m surprised that he didn’t even know it immediately. What kind of adviser is that?”

“He’s busy with his own classes, and he’s recently going to different places for seminars and conferences and such, so I’m pretty much left in charge,” Chanyeol replies and hands Baekhyun his notes for him to go over his answers for the mini questionnaire he made for Chanyeol. “He’s not exactly a hands on adviser. I think he trusted me too much since, I quote, _you have so much passion in you,_ and... well, I believed in myself too much. I had a good record in the past few years that I stayed in the publication, so I thought that I could actually do it.”

“Definitely a Sag,” Baekhyun answers, marking something on his paper, and Chanyeol just lets him be, used to Baekhyun having his attention elsewhere and can still listen to the person he was talking to. It’s one of the things he noticed in a span of few days.

Chanyeol shrugs. “So, everything became a mess when everyone just suddenly became busy with their lives the moment that Professor Kim became busy with his own life. I think they thought that they won’t have to do shit since he wasn’t there, but—Jesus, I think this is the first time that we talked like this. So serious, I have to gag.”

It was true. It was too serious for them, considering that the past few days, all they did was spat at each other and infuriate one another until their meeting ends.

“Well, now that you’ve successfully ruined the mood, here’s your paper. I’ve marked most of the items that you became confused with. Most of these are situational, so I understand why you got confused,” Baekhyun says, suddenly turning serious as he points out with his pen all the items that he got wrong.

Chanyeol counts all the red marks that Baekhyun did on his paper. _Five._ Out of ten. Not bad, he guesses, for a person who was only half-listening these past few days. Besides, it was merely to test him how much he knows about the topics anyway. Like a crash course of some sort.

He looks at Baekhyun leaning in just to show what he was wrong with. He likes how Baekhyun suddenly shifts from someone sarcastic to someone serious, proving the smartass shit that he was. He’s _tamed._ It’s like he forgets about their feud, unless Chanyeol suddenly states something that would annoy the guy. Chanyeol admits that he does it on purpose, since he wasn’t exactly the type of person who enjoys serious moments.

“You got almost all of the existentialism questions correct, though,” Baekhyun commends and somehow, Chanyeol feels proud because of it. “Good. At least I know we won’t be spending too much time on that. When’s your test gonna be? Have you talked to your professor?”

“He said it’s going to be next week.”

“Did he say what kind of test will it be like?”

“No. He just said I should review _everything._ ”

“Well, I think you’ve got a hang of it anyway. Just need to catch up, that’s all,” Baekhyun says. “I’m guessing existentialism is something that you’ll be able to easily relate to, just in case your test would rely more on an essay format, then that would be the easiest to prove evidences, I guess?”

The thing about Baekhyun was that he’s generous in giving praises, if he thinks you deserve it. He knows how to listen, to correct one’s mistakes, and to commend when needed. He knows how to keep others attention.

“Yeah, I think so. I mean, that’s the concept that I wanna use for my project for philosophy and creative nonfiction.”

“You never mentioned that you had an integrated project,” Baekhyun says and Chanyeol just shrugs. “I think it’s an interesting idea. What do you plan on doing?”

He likes how their conversation is turning into something serious, something that Chanyeol was actually enjoying.

“Well, if I understood existentialism correctly, I’ll have to write something about a certain experience that I based on doing a certain decision.”

“You should probably use your experience as a writer of Visionario. Like, what made you choose what you did, you know? Transforming the paper into a gossip column. That would be very interesting to see how your choices turned out in your life. What consequences and such.”

_He spoke too soon._

“Oh, shut up,” Chanyeol says. “I’ve had more experiences in life other than that.”

Baekhyun shrugs and leans back to his chair. “I’ve read a lot of texts about existentialism and literature since my paper is about philosophy and literature, so—“

Chanyeol sees an opportunity.

“Is that the plagiarized one?”

“It’s not plagiarized,” Baekhyun grumbles. He was frowning again. It was really amusing for Chanyeol how easy it was to push Baekhyun’s buttons. “Anyway, I think it’s a good idea for you to use it as a topic, just make the idea of existentialism clear, so that both of your professors would understand it without having to look it up.”

Chanyeol, as much as he doesn’t want to admit it, likes how smart Baekhyun was. He really knows what he’s talking about and Chanyeol can see that he really _learned._

He’s not gonna say that, though. He’d want to tease Baekhyun more. He enjoys looking at his flushed face.

Chanyeol leans closer to him and winks. “Will do, smartass.”

Baekhyun pushes his face away. “Shut up, dumbass.”

 

 

Chanyeol just got from an interview from one of his research participants. His name was Kim Junmyeon, one of Baekhyun’s friends who was willing to be interviewed for the sake of his research. He was the last one for today. And he was already tired and drainex. He had to interview five. He was lucky that his professors had a meeting today, or else, he would’ve had to cut classes again, and if he does that, he’ll automatically fail, and he doesn’t exactly want to think about that road yet. Not now when he’s slightly optimistic with his situation.

He was tired, but he still had to go and worry more. Sehun says at least he was doing something about his problem, says that Baekhyun was a big help for him, and Chanyeol just shrugs at him, refusing to admit how much of a big help the guy was despite his constant need to slap the reality on his face.

It was Friday already and honestly, he just wants to lie down after a long week of thinking and spending a lot of time coped up in the library. It was just a good thing that he _did_ like the library so it wasn’t as suffocating and infuriating to see Baekhyun and listen to all of the ideas in Philosophy. At least their teasing was of help. He somehow fights the urge to sleep because of it.

Right now he was on his way to the library for another meeting with Baekhyun. He sees him from afar, frowning while talking with a familiar woman near the door of the library. He strides towards them, ready to call Baekhyun and annoy him for disrupting their conversation, but he suddenly freezes when he hears the woman say, “Why are you even helping Park Chanyeol? It’s as if you don’t know his reputation right now. He isn’t exactly the type of person you’d want to be associated with.”

He doesn’t know why he suddenly finds himself leaning against the wall, hiding from them. There were a few students looking at him weirdly but they return to passing by him as if they didn’t just see him practically wincing after he bumps his back a bit harshly than intended.

_Why am I even hiding?_

“I don’t know, Seulgi. I think he’s a nice guy. He’s just stressed, that’s all. He’s got a lot in his plate right now,” he hears Baekhyun say to who he was talking to.

He takes a peak and sees a tall and slim woman, her lips were red and her eyes were small. She was wearing a black top with cherries on it along with some skinny jeans. He knew who she was. She’s Kang Seulgi, one of the faces in their department. And apparently, someone who’s wary of him.

_Was it because of something he did?_

Chanyeol lets out a quiet, self-deprecating laugh.

_Of course it is._

“I mean, I’m not saying we should tolerate what he’s doing, but maybe we should try and understand the guy, then slowly, we can work on the problem. I’m sure he knows that he’s wrong in some way. It’s his major, for pete’s sake!” Baekhyun continues. “You should understand, Seulgi. I know you have some grudge about the guy after his article about your unattended duties for your organization, but give the guy some slack, alright?”

 _Oh… he remembers what it was._ He heard a few people from their major talking about her and how she was only a face of the organization and not exactly the president that they desire. He talked to them, asked about their organization, and to be fair, he didn’t put all the bad side of it. He kind of promoted their organization and encouraged the people to help… but…

_Why was he affected, anyway?_

“You’re letting him take advantage of you when you have your own things to deal with.”

“I’m not. I know what I’m doing,” Baekhyun tells her in a warning tone. Chanyeol can already imagine his frowning face while saying this. “Just go, Seulgi. You have your own things to deal with. No time slacking around. I can manage.”

He doesn’t understand why Baekhyun was even defending him. It’s not like they had some sort of friendly relationship to begin with, if he remembers it correctly. There’s not a day that Baekhyun fails to remind him of his _shortcomings_ as the EIC and all the disappointment that he had caused because of it.

And yet, there he was, telling Seulgi to give him some chance because he just has a lot on his plate.

Chanyeol can already hear footsteps coming his way and he had to scamper and hide behind another door just so he won’t be seen by any of them. He takes a peek and sees the girl walking past where he was, shaking her head as she taps on something on her phone. She puts it near her ear before she disappears with a turn in a corner.

He steps out of the room he was hiding from with slow and tentative steps, peaking to Baekhyun’s direction, seeing him using his laptop while he was on the floor, as if waiting for something or _someone._

_What are you doing there, Byun?_

_Why did you defend me?_

He sees Baekhyun look at his watch and Chanyeol had to move fast when he senses Baekhyun look around only for him to murmur something incoherent.

Chanyeol takes a look at him again, noting how his round glasses were there again, and his lips were forming a pout as he leans closer to his screen, typing furiously again, the same way he sees him whenever Baekhyun was first to arrive between the both of them. He seems busy, preoccupied, and he looks like the type of person who has a lot in his plate, with too much responsibilities awaiting each day, and yet...

_Why are you even helping me?_

When Baekhyun takes another look at his watch, Chanyeol decides that it was time to show himself. He doesn’t know what expression he was wearing, if all the confusion and what he had heard had truly softened him up, but seeing Baekhyun’s face suddenly light up at the sight of him and almost immediately does it turn into a frown, he doesn’t have the heart to tease him. His mind was blank, and for some reason, he can’t even think of one single thing that can rile up the guy.

_Who are you, Byun Baekhyun?_

“The library was closed when I came here. There’s some orientation or something. I don’t know. I was gonna tell you, but I realized that I don’t have your number,” Baekhyun explains the moment he sees Chanyeol making his way towards him. He notices Chanyeol’s lost expression as he looks at Baekhyun. “What’s with that stupid face?”

“Nothing,” he replies, more like a whisper that Baekhyun somehow got surprised because of it. He offers him a small smile. “I was just hungry, that’s all. I’ve been really busy the whole day and I haven’t had the time to eat.”

“Oh, well, do you still want to continue today? Maybe we can have it in your—“

Chanyeol didn’t feel like studying.

“Do you want to go eat outside for a while?”

“What?”

 _Yeah, what?_ Chanyeol finds himself thinking. Baekhyun was repeatedly blinking in front of him as if he couldn’t believe what Chanyeol just said. Chanyeol purses his lips and mentally face palms. _Seriously, what?_

He can’t exactly blame Baekhyun to be surprised with the offer when Chanyeol himself was surprised. Not once had he ever thought of spending some time with Baekhyun. Sure, they spend some time pestering each other in the library, but _outside?_

Never.

Baekhyun was looking at him in disbelief, clutching his laptop against his chest as he waits for Chanyeol to talk.

Well, now that he offered it already, then he guesses he should just get along with it. This is his chance.

_A chance for what?_

Chanyeol ignores the thought and gives Baekhyun a grin. “Are you up for some _samgyupsal_?”

“I do not have that much money with me, Park—“

“Then it’s my treat.”

Chanyeol’s just too much of a surprise today.

 

 

“Is this your way of slowly making me trapped just for you to kill me?” Baekhyun asks.

Chanyeol laughs at him, shaking his head while he prepares his food. Baekhyun gets surprised when Chanyeol suddenly extends his arm, fully prepared wrap of samgyupsal in hand, and says, “Ah.”

Baekhyun doesn’t budge and continues to look at Chanyeol in suspicion, scrunching his nose.

“Come on. I prepared this for you,” Chanyeol says, shaking his hand in front of Baekhyun. “There’s no raw garlic in it, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“H-How…?” Baekhyun gapes at him, wondering how he knew about his distaste of raw garlic.

Chanyeol shrugs and shoves the food inside Baekhyun’s mouth, and Baekhyun had no choice but to chew it, finding it hard to question Chanyeol some more, not when Chanyeol was smiling at him with satisfaction upon Baekhyun accepting what he offered. He goes back to grilling. “I noticed that you set it aside a while ago and intentionally put it to my side, so I guess you were hoping that I’d just put it here for you for it not to be raw when you finally get one. And you were looking at what I was doing warily as if you were ready to warn me if ever.”

Baekhyun swallows what he was eating and frowns. “Seriously, Park, what is wrong with you and why are you—“

He gets stopped by Chanyeol who was giving him another wrap that he prepared. “Here.”

Baekhyun doesn’t make a move and still had the same wary look. However, Chanyeol looks like he was ready to forcefully shove the food again, so he takes it and mumbles, “I-I can do it myself… You don’t have to keep on giving me one.”

“Suit yourself,” Chanyeol says and chews his own wrap.

Baekhyun prepares his own wrap with hesitance. He darts his eyes to Chanyeol every now and then, just to make sure that he wasn’t tricking him or anything. When Baekhyun sees Chanyeol merely tapping something on his phone, he goes on and quietly chews his food.

Chanyeol was awfully quiet, if Baekhyun might say. Ever since he saw him by the library, there was an unreadable expression on his face. It was a lot weirder when he said that they should eat. And then it got worse when he said it was his treat, and he thought it was all that, but Chanyeol was suddenly feeding him, and god, who wouldn’t be suspicious when your self-proclaimed enemy was being nice to you?

It was weird, okay? They weren’t very close friends. They weren’t even considered as _friends_ to be this casual around each other _._

_Is there something wrong?_

“Is there a problem?” Baekhyun suddenly voices out. He couldn’t help it. Chanyeol doesn’t answer him and just taps furiously on his phone. “Is this some ploy to lure me to one of your stupid schemes? Like, did you say that it was your treat and by the end of this, you’ll suddenly make me pay for the _both_ of us, because Park, I swear to God—“

“What? No,” Chanyeol immediately denies, locking his phone and putting it to the side. It vibrates again, but Chanyeol just lets it be. “I was serious about treating you.”

“What for?”

“Nothing. I was just hungry and I wanted some company. It would be weird if you were with me and I was the only one eating. Plus, I was really craving and they don’t actually allow one person per table, so...” Chanyeol says as an excuse, when in truth, he doesn’t even know _why_ he did that. He wasn’t even hungry. All of it was just a mere excuse.

He’s having a hard time grasping things lately. It’s weird how disoriented he was, with all the piled work on his plate, more so when he was spending some time with Baekhyun, and it got worse when he heard what he said a while ago.

It’s not making some sense to him. A lot of things aren’t.

Baekhyun narrows his eyes at him, his lips forming into a pout.

“Well, since we’re here, do you want to continue where we left off yesterday? So that we’ll finish at least half of your syllabus—“

“Hey, smartass,” Chanyeol calls him out and Baekhyun glares at him but he doesn’t speak. “I know you value studying a lot and that you’re awfully committed to helping me learn and pass because that’s how much you love me...”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. _There’s the dumbass he knows_ , Baekhyun thinks, but he immediately shakes it off, not liking the way it feels like they were close _._

Chanyeol laughs. “But I don’t exactly study well in areas like this, and I’m not in the mood to study right now, so will you just spare me this time? We’re eating.”

“Fine,” Baekhyun replies. He places his laptop on the table and taps to open it. “Then I’ll just—“

Chanyeol carefully closes his laptop, shakes his head, and places it to his side. “Baekhyun, seriously, we’re eating. I know you’re studious and very busy, but _we’re eating,_ and you have to enjoy the free food while it’s there. Times like this are rare, ya know? We can just study tomorrow. In my dorm, I guess, so that we won’t have to go back to the campus. Only if you’re free though, since I don’t want to take too much of your time.”

“But—“

“Na-uh. Now, ah,” Chanyeol says and gives him another wrap. Baekhyun obliges and Chanyeol smiles. “Good. Now die.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widen and he almost spit the food out, but Chanyeol laughs and chokes out, “I’m just kidding! You have to trust me, seriously.”

Baekhyun kicks him on the shin. “Not funny.”

Chanyeol just laughs at him while Baekhyun glares at him while he gets himself another wrap. Chanyeol places a stainless cup beside him and pours out some water for him before he gets his own cup and had some water of his own.

It’s weird, how Chanyeol does this as if it was normal. Like he didn’t mind taking care of someone in his company. As if it was okay to just attend to them first before him.

“Hey, give me your number,” Chanyeol says, handing him his phone.

Baekhyun looks back and forth to Chanyeol and the phone. “What? What for?”

“You mentioned a while ago that you didn’t have my number, so you waited for me outside the library just to inform me about it. Just for it not to happen again and for you to waste your time sitting outside, might as well have my number,” Chanyeol explains. He raises a brow when he sees Baekhyun’s flushed face. “Why do you look like your highschool crush just asked you out? Don’t tell me you like—“

“ _No._ Don’t you dare finish that sentence. Give me that!” Baekhyun says and snatches his phone, his cheeks turning a darker shade of red. Chanyeol chuckles, amused.

Baekhyun was in the middle of placing his number when Chanyeol’s phone vibrates again, and Baekhyun unconsciously looks at the notification and sees a text from Sehun.

 _hows the date with baekhyun_ [17:45]

Baekhyun feels like he’s seen enough and he’s not sure if he placed the correct numbers with how hastily he did it, but he returns the phone to Chanyeol, almost shoving it to his chest. His cheeks suddenly feel hot.

_Calm the fuck down, self. What the fuck? Maybe that’s just some teasing remark. You know how friends are._

“Why do you look so red? Is that even normal?” Chanyeol notices and Baekhyun didn’t answer, focusing on drinking water just to calm himself down.

Chanyeol shakes his head and takes a glance on his phone and sees Sehun’s text message from a few minutes ago. He looks at Baekhyun’s slowly fading red cheeks, and then back again at the text message. “D-did you see anything? In my phone?”

“ _No,_ ” Baekhyun squeaks, looking away to have another drink.

Chanyeol catches on. _Of course he did._

_Oh Sehun, I will fucking kill you._

 

 

“Don’t go near me or else I’ll _kill_ you. I won’t even hesitate,” Chanyeol says threateningly the moment he sees Sehun behind the door with an infuriating grin plastered on his face.

“I’m _so_ scared,” Sehun replies, obviously sarcastic, and moves towards him, clinging to his arm. “So? What made my friend’s heart soften?”

“Do you fucking hear yourself? Are you not cringing?” Chanyeol asks and plops on his bed, shoving his bag to the side. He groans when Sehun continues to cling on him like a koala with a thin and teasing smile on his face. “Stop that. What do you even want to know?”

“I just want to know why you skipped having dinner with me, and mind you, it was _my_ treat, just so you can eat with Baekhyun and, _oh my god,_ treat him,” Sehun says, exaggerating. Chanyeol rolls his eyes and removes Sehun’s hold on his arm, but Sehun shakes his head and tightens his hold. “No, I’m not letting you go. I _have_ to know. It’s a rare moment that you actually spend time with other people, and not explore in your own, so tell me, what makes him special? Is there something happening now? Do you guys have a tutor-student relationship—“

“The fuck!” Chanyeol exclaims and forcefully tugs his arm out. “It’s nothing. Look, I just felt hungry, and he was there, the library was close, and I just wanted to do something else. You kinda asked me a little bit too late. We were already eating _samgyupsal_ by that—“

“Hold up. Hold on. Stop there. Let’s just pause and rewind,” Sehun says, his palm was in front of his face. He breathes heavily, closes his eyes, and opens it. “You treated him to to have some _samgyupsal_!? I can’t believe it!”

“Why are you acting like it’s such a big deal!?”

“Because it is! The most expensive thing that you treated me is chicken wings and it wasn’t even unlimited.”

“ _You_ don’t even treat _me_!” Chanyeol says incredulously. “You don’t have a right to complain.”

“Just so you know, if you didn’t _reject_ me a while ago, I would’ve given you my first treat. I think I told you that it was my treat, but its rarity didn’t even stop you from treating Baekhyun,” Sehun says dramatically, and Chanyeol knows he lost.

Sehun had a knowing smirk on his face like the little shit that he was. Chanyeol groans and buries his face on his pillow. He feels someone sitting on his back and he struggles on moving. “Move the fuck away, Sehun. My back hurts enough already.”

“Not gonna unless you’ll tell me details.”

“Why is this eating with Baekhyun a big deal for you, seriously?”

“I’ve never really seen you with anybody, honestly. You give off the vibes _nobody’s-good-enough-for-me_ kind of thing and I won’t even be surprised if you haven’t been kissed yet.”

“I have been kissed, excuse you! Not that it’s something that I should even brag about nor should it be something you should know,” Chanyeol defends himself. He succeeds on his wiggling out of Sehun and manages to make Sehun stumble out of his bed. “Besides, it’s not like I have the time to date people. I rarely have the spare time to even get a look of others, nor do I even have the time to get to know them. Also, have you forgotten that I’m currently facing problems?”

“Just say that you’re not interested just because you think that they’re not up your standards, that _you’re_ too good for them, and that you haven’t met your match. I’m pretty sure you can make some time if you’re _actually_ interested in the person you’re with,” Sehun says as he plops down his own bed. “Maybe if you try to get to know people, you can be _less_ problematic than you are now. It’s possible that you won’t even be having the problems that you have now if you gave people the chance to prove themselves.”

“I don’t have the time for it, okay? Let’s just leave this conversation be. I’m not up to have some mind crisis again. Today has been an awfully long day and all I want is to sleep,” is what Chanyeol says, despite opening his laptop while doing so. “I still have to transcribe, but I think I’ll just back it up for today and do it some other time…”

Sehun shakes his head at what his roommate is doing and just reaches for his own things. He throws his things to his desk and immediately settles to his own space. Just before he plugs in his earphones, he hears Chanyeol groan, followed by a dramatic cry. He looks at his roommate and sees him hitting his forehead on his laptop repeatedly. “I want to throw this goddamn laptop and forget everything. God knows the only thing I want to do right now is to fucking sleep. Is that too much to ask? Tell me, Sehun, is it too much?”

“Uh, no…?” Sehun replies, unsure, and worried with the way his roommate doesn’t seem to have any plans of stopping himself from hitting his own head. “Dude, what is happening? Why are you suddenly—can you stop that!? That shit’s gonna hurt!”

“I don’t feel anything anymore, Sehun. I feel numb.”

Sehun sighs. “Seriously. What is happening and what is this sudden thought? I thought you were just gonna back up all of your files and sleep?”

“That’s the original plan before my professor _s—_ yes, it’s plural again—decided to send an email and remind me of how much of a failure I am,” Chanyeol says and turns his laptop to Sehun’s side just to show his emails. Sehun couldn’t really see it that much, not when Chanyeol immediately turned it to his angle. “One wants to talk to me about the publication, the other one was to remind me of my test and project, and the other one was asking me to send my progress in my thesis _by tomorrow,_ and get this, _before noon_. I mean, who does that? Most professors give a few days notice and have it passed before midnight or something, but _no._ He just had to be a bitch.”

“Dude… that sucks. You still have a weekend to work on the other ones, I guess? You can just try to work on something tonight and have something before noon.”

“But Baekhyun’s gonna be here tomorrow… and I kinda wanna be up by that time if I want to have something inside my head…” Chanyeol mumbles, but Sehun hears it anyway. Just before Sehun says anything else to point out what he had just said, Chanyeol beats him to it. “Don’t tease. He’s gonna be here tomorrow to give me an overview with a lesson. We didn’t get to do it a while ago since the library was closed.”

“That’s not what I was gonna do,” Sehun replies to him and scratches the back of his head. “Um, I… I kinda invited Jongin over since we have to prepare for the org event, the _Dance Until It Lasts_ thing… and you know it gets messy when we’re both here, with all the moving of beds and stuff… I wasn’t gonna tell you, since I knew you get along with Jongin well, and you knew how he often gets sexiled. I thought it was going to be okay since we weren’t going to occupy your space, but since you invited Baekhyun over, um…”

“ _Why,_ of all days, did you _not_ rent the fucking studio in our campus!?”

“Each hour was booked already when we tried, okay! We can’t practice in public, too since there are people training, so the field is out of the question. The only place we can do it is here.”

“ _Why_ must this happen now?”

“Hey, okay, in my defense, you never really brought anyone over, so I wasn’t exactly expecting any problem,” Sehun points out, shaking his head. Chanyeol groans and just lies down, covers his face with his pillow and kicks out of frustration. “Sorry, Chanyeol. The event is already next week, so we can’t keep on postponing it. We’re already busy as it is, and tomorrow’s the only day that we can be free. Can’t you just ask Baekhyun if it’s alright to do your sessions in his dormitory for now?”

“I don’t know…” Chanyeol says and sits up, reaching for his phone that was connected to his laptop. “I’ll just ask him, I guess. We don’t have a choice, anyway. If you’re bringing Jongin here, that means it’s going to be noisy, with all the music and stuff. It’s not exactly… a workable environment… so…”

 _hey, baekhyun. it’s chanyeol_ [20:57]

 _i know i said that we should just study here in our dorm but_ [20:57]

 _my roommate’s gonna have someone over tomorrow_ [20:57]

 _it’s gonna be noisy and crowded here_ [20:57]

 _will it be alright if we just meet in your dorm?_ [20:58]

 _u can just text me where it’s located &what time u’ll be free _[20:58]

 _Hey. It’s alright, I guess. But I have to attend a class in the morning._ [20:58]

 _Are you free by noon?_ [20:58]

 _My dorm’s by the Lucky One, by the way. The left side of it._ [20:58]

 _You’ll see it immediately. 4th floor. Or you can just text me if you’re there already._ [20:59]

 _yep, i’m free by noon._ [20:59]

 _i have to pass something in the morning nway so it works_ [20:59]

 _see u then_ [20:59]

 _thanks, baekhyun_ [20:59]

 _Don’t wanna see you_ [21:00]

 _But I have no choice._ [21:00]

 _Since you treated me food and it feels like I owe you something._ [21:00]

 _u owe me ur life_ [21:00]

 _and also i know u can’t resist helping me anyway_ [21:01]

 _u love me that much_ [21:01]

 _tnx i can feel ur love_ [21:01]

 _You wish._ [21:01]

 _Dumbass_ [21:01]

 _alright, smartass. i can feel u getting annoyed already_ [21:01]

 _i love it <3 _[21:01]

 _good luck on ur paper_ [21:01]

 _don’t copy, ok? don’t wanna write anything about that_ [21:02]

 _Fuck you._ [21:02]

“Cute,” Chanyeol whispers, slightly smiles, and puts down his phone. He feels Sehun’s stare at him and he turns to his direction, and he immediately throws one of his pillows at him, to which Sehun failed to dodge. “Stop looking at me like that!”

Sehun laughs and throws the pillow back at him. “You should’ve seen your face. The way it changed from a frown to a smile… never in my year of being your roommate have I seen that.”

“You’ll never see it again.”

“I doubt it,” Sehun says and shrugs. “As long as Baekhyun’s there, I think I’m gonna see that more.”

“Never. Stop insinuating—“

“Whatever, dude,” Sehun stops him and places one of his earphones to his ear. “Just work on your paper and transcribe, or something. You need to pass something by tomorrow, right?”

“Ugh. You didn’t have to remind me,” Chanyeol grumbles and taps his laptop out of sleep mode. He sighs, looking at the five 30-minutes or more recording that he had saved to his Google drive.

It was 9 in the evening, and he usually finishes transcribing a 30-minutes worth of interview for an hour or so. He just hopes he’ll be able to sleep to be able to function and have something passed before noon.

He lets out another deep sigh, places his earphones to his ear, opens a blank document, and clicks on _Play._

Time for work.

 

 

“Chanyeol, goddamnit! Your phone’s so noisy!” Sehun exclaims and slaps (lightly) his roommate awake. He presses Chanyeol’s phone near to his ear and his roommate merely slaps his arm away and covers his head with his blanket. “How can you not hear this thing!? It’s been ringing every five fucking minutes since 8 A.M, and it’s already 9 in the morning! Chanyeol! Hey!”

“So noisy…”

Sehun shakes him, annoyed. Clearly, he wasn’t a morning person. “Your alarm fucking woke me up when I shouldn’t even be up yet! Hey! Chanyeol!”

“The fuck is your problem!” Chanyeol whines, removing the blanket covering him. “It’s 3 A.M… just let me have this power nap… I need it.”

“The fuck are you talking about? It’s 9 A.M, you idiot!”

“What!?” Chanyeol immediately sits up and snatches his phone away from Sehun, his eyes widening when he sees that Sehun wasn’t lying. He tugs his hair out of frustration and groans. “I swear, I just wanted to have some power nap. Like, sleep for 20 minutes… _why…_ ”

Sehun sees his friend tearing up and all of his annoyance vanishes. “Did you not finish what you were transcribing?”

Chanyeol wipes his unwanted tears with his blanket and opens his laptop. “I did… I was just gonna organize it last night, highlight those that have same ideas to have an easier coding, so that I won’t have that much problem anymore by the afternoon when Baekhyun and I review, but I…”

“Then at least you have something to pass for today,” Sehun says comfortingly. “You still have some time.”

Chanyeol shakes his head. “I’m just gonna pass whatever I have right now and make up some shit. I wanna sleep.”

“Whatever works for you, just as long as you’ll pass.”

“Well, okay, nevermind then. I wanna pass and graduate. I’ll just code some of it up,” Chanyeol says and yawns. Sehun scrunches his nose.  _Morning breath._ Chanyeol doesn’t notice it. “Sorry for waking you up, dude.”

“That’s fine. Have to do some stuff too, anyway.”

“Alrighty. Don’t mind me. I’m just gonna cry here in the corner and hate myself for making the worst decisions.”

Chanyeol sighs and looks at his phone. Then back to his laptop. He regrets sleeping and telling himself that he’ll wake up after 20 minutes. He should’ve known that he won’t be able to hear his alarm. He should’ve known his body will betray him. And now, he’s suffering the consequences of it.

Well, in his defense, he can’t _work_ properly if he’s half-asleep, so despite all that he has to do, if his body is begging for some rest, who was he to deny it? He just _hoped_ that this time, his body clock would cooperate, but apparently, even his own system hates him.

He looks at his Google sheet, sees a few highlighted keywords here and there, and sighs. It was a relief to see that he was almost done, or at least, with the ones that he was able to interview. He still had a few more people to interview, but at least there’s some progress. If this was his usual self, he would’ve done all of these half-assed, but Baekhyun and his ways kinda stuck to him, his tips and all, that he just couldn’t let it all up. It was for the best anyway.

Once he was done with highlighting, he goes over the file, copies the shared link and constructs an email to be sent to his professor. He pointedly ignores Professor Kim’s email and replies to his Philosophy professor with a brief reply stating, _noted._ He closes his laptop and lies down.

It was 10:30 in the morning. He can sleep for a while and wake up before he meets with Baekhyun. He lies down quietly, with Sehun not noticing his move, busy in his own world. He was already getting ready for bed when his phone chimes. He looks at it and he immediately smiles.

 _Dumbass._ [10:31]

 _Are we still gonna meet up?_ [10:31]

 _I hope not_ [10:31]

 _But if we are, you can go there by 2 pm_ [10:31]

 _yep, just gonna rest for a while_ [10:31]

 _i’ll be there_ [10:31]

 _no need go be excited_ [10:31]

 _also, good morning_ [10:31]

 _Nothing’s good in the morning if you’re like that._ [10:32]

 _I was kinda hoping we weren’t gonna meet_ [10:32]

 _Don’t want to see your stupid face_ [10:32]

 _oooo so cranky in the morning_ [10:32]

 _i love it. good morning indeed ;)_ [10:32]

 _stop using ur phone during lectures_ [10:32]

 _good night. i’ll only be sleeping now. meet u later_ [10:33]

 _mwah don’t miss me_ [10:33]

He doesn’t see Baekhyun’s reply, because the moment he sends his message, he hugs his phone to his chest, smiling as he dozes off.

He doesn’t realize that he forgot to set his alarm.

“Holy shit! _Holy shit!_ Sehun, what time is it!? Why did you not wake me up!?” Chanyeol exclaims, immediately sitting up, ignoring the way his heart was beating fast, like he was palpitating, and the way his head was pounding.

Sehun looks startled upon entering their shared room with Jongin in tow. He looks at his phone. “It’s… 2:18—“

“Hooooly shit!” Chanyeol says and makes a run to their bathroom, with a quick, _hey, Jongin,_ and leaving the both of them confused.

“Uh, what’s happening?” Sehun asks, eyeing Chanyeol who just got out of their bathroom after a few minutes, his face wet and his hair was sticking out. “Are you okay? Were you not able to pass your progress?”

“I was—I was supposed to meet Baekhyun by 2 P.M! I’m already late!” Chanyeol says, throwing stuff to his bag, and grabs his hoodie and hurriedly wears it.

“Baekhyun? Byun Baekhyun?” Jongin asks, curious. Chanyeol just nods and hugs his laptop to his chest. Jongin looks at Sehun and he just mouths him, _later_. He nods and moves to the side when Chanyeol makes his way to one of the sockets to plug in his phone. “Chill, Chanyeol. Baekhyun’s a nice guy. He’d understand.”

“I know he’s nice, but—“ Chanyeol stops talking when he hears his phone chime. He looks at it and groans.

 _You’re such a dumbass._ [10:34]

 _The lecture is boring. I already know most of it._ [10:34]

 _Why are you only sleeping now?_ [10:34]

 _Uh, hello?_ [10:44]

 _Are we still gonna go?_ [13:30]

 _I finished my class early. If you’re done by then, we can start and finish early. That way, we won’t have to suffer being in each other’s presence so much._ [13:31]

 _Um. Not to be annoying or anything, but…? Hello…? Will you be going here? I kinda wanna sleep too, for a while, but I’m not sure if I can…_ [13:58]

 _Seriously…_ [14:10]

 _Do you not have some respect to other people’s time_ [14:18]

 _Whatever. I’m gonna sleep._ [14:25]

“I have to go,” Chanyeol says, removing his phone from charging.

“Okay, good—“ Sehun doesn’t get to finish what he was saying. Chanyeol immediately leaps out, his backpack on one shoulder. “—luck.”

“I’ve never seen him like that,” Jongin says, looking at the direction where Chanyeol was once.

Sehun nods. “I feel like he doesn’t want to disappoint and be on the guy’s bad side. For some reason, he’s acting nice. Even treating him and stuff.”

“But he’s stingy. How did that happen?”

“Exactly my point,” Sehun says and shrugs, placing his bag to the side. “Whatever. Let’s just do our stuff. Chanyeol’s got a lot in his plate and I’m just glad he’s asking for help this time.”

 

 

 _oh god baekhyun i’m so sorry_ [14:36]

 _i’m here already_ [14:36]

 _i’m really sorry_ _ㅜㅜ_ [14:36]

 _can u come down now? they won’t let me go up unless ure here_ [14:37]

Chanyeol chews on his bottom lip nervously, waiting for Baekhyun’s reply. He was tapping his foot lightly on the floor, just to soothe his nerves. He can still feel his heart beating fast, the same with how it was when he woke up a while ago. His head wasn’t hurting that much anymore, but he still feels too tired and sleepy to even think of a way and to be positive.

He doesn’t notice Baekhyun coming his way with a frown on his face. He only looks at him when he says, “God, you’re so annoying. What took you so long? I was—still am—dying to sleep, too, you know!”

“I’m—I’m sorry, I just… I just overslept. Sorry. We can just reschedule, if you want?” Chanyeol asks quietly, his head down.

He doesn’t see the way Baekhyun’s annoyance shifts into something else. He sighs and holds onto his arm, surprising Chanyeol. “It’s fine. Come on. You’re here already, so it would be a waste of time to make you go back. Besides, you said your roommate had someone over, right? You won’t be able to study. Or rest. You need this more than I do, anyway. I can just take some rest later. Your test’s next week, right?”

“Yeah, I… I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to make you wait,” Chanyeol says, tired, as he leans against the elevator. His eyes were threatening to close, and Baekhyun sees all of it. Chanyeol shakes his head and pinches the side of his arm. “I just want this to be over, that’s all. One less problem out of a hundred more.”

Before Baekhyun can even reply, the elevator opens and they both step out. Baekhyun inputs his pin and toes off his slippers immediately. Chanyeol follows his lead, placing his own pair beside Baekhyun’s.

“You can go sit by the bed near the window. That’s my space. Let me just prepare some stuff for you. You can set up your things, or something,” Baekhyun mumbles.

“I feel like if I go near any bed, I’d automatically sleep,” Chanyeol replies, but he still follows Baekhyun, anyway, sighing, when he sits down and places his things on the floor. “Is it just me or this bed is so attractive that I feel like we’re meant to be and we should just get married?”

“That’s just so weird. I’m surprised that those even came out of your mouth,” Baekhyun says, amused, as he grabs a glass of water and a few snacks for them to chew on. He’s not sure what Chanyeol likes, though. “Hey, what do you like more? Chips or noodles?”

No answer.

“Hey— _oh,_ ” Baekhyun turns to look at Chanyeol and sees half of his body already lying on the bed, his mouth open and his eyes not fully closed.

Baekhyun places the glass of water on his desk and just sits by the edge of his bed, beside Chanyeol sleeping. He looks at him, amused with how fast it was for him to just sleep anywhere. It was worrisome, too, since that meant he was too tired to even fight off his sleep. “What did you even do? Write more articles that can potentially ruin someone’s life?”

Of course Chanyeol doesn’t answer.

He wonders what had kept this guy all night to be this tired. He’s aware that he was just as busy as him, had known him for quite some time now, since many people talk about him. In his case, he’d had some lingering anger on him because of what he had called him before. That he was stupid.

He knows it’s not something that he should dwell on, but it did effectively affect the way he perceives himself. He had known he wasn’t the smartest out there and hat he was bound to make grave mistakes sometime in the future, but being called stupid by someone he barely knows opens up many of his insecurities.

And to think that he had only wanted to be friends with the loud guy who seems smart and approachable, only to end up being called stupid by the same person.

At least, he can say that Chanyeol was part of the reasons why Baekhyun’s who he is now. How he is known because of it. He didn’t want to be called stupid again just because of an accident neither of them wanted to happen, nor does he want to be deemed as such by anyone.

He loathes the guy, but at the same time, he pities him, because gone was the guy who was admirably independent and known just by doing things that he loves. He changed into something else and became bombarded by every other praise, making him so high that when what he was stepping on became rocky and shaky, he wasn’t prepared and became stuck in the state he was in right now.

Trying to fix something he himself had broken.

That must be tiring.

He could’ve been a better person. He _can_ be a better person. He just needs the help, because he hasn’t had one for quite a long time, too used to being on his own and having his own standards that no one can reach.

He guesses this was the reason he set aside his hatred for the guy.

But now he isn’t sure if there was hatred after all, getting to know bits of Chanyeol as time passes by.

Baekhyun runs his hand through Chanyeol’s hair, and Chanyeol unconsciously leans to it, comfortable and seeking warmth. He sighs in his sleep, mumbling, “Keep… going…” which made Baekhyun chuckle.

He continues what he was doing, pitying the guy. He knows he should wake up Chanyeol and continue where they left off the last time that they reviewed so that they can finish early and they both can rest, but he also knows what it feels like to be restless, and he doesn’t have the heart to wake him up, knowing full well how a person can’t do things if they were sleepy.

He gets surprised, however, when Chanyeol suddenly holds him by his wrist and tugs him down, making him lie beside him. Chanyeol hugs him tight, presses his lips on his hair, before mumbling, “Soft…”

_What in the cliche fucking odds..._

Baekhyun tries not to move too much, fearing that Chanyeol would wake up and just throw him by the side. Not that he _wants_ this. His heart was just beating too fast from the surprise and totally not because of how warm it was to be on Chanyeol’s embrace and not how it felt just right for him to be there.

He closes his eyes tightly, thinking how it would be over soon, and that Chanyeol was just unconscious of what he was doing and that it was just part of his sleeping habits to _cuddle_ with something or someone.

With how noisy his thoughts were, he doesn’t hear the way their lock chimes and the door opens with a, “Baekhyun, I’m home, did you— _what the fuck!_ ”

Baekhyun freezes. His roommate. He forgot that he’d be going back by the end of the week.

“Jongdae,” he breathes out, struggling to take a peek from Chanyeol’s hold to look at his probably flabbergasted roommate.

He hears heavy footsteps coming to his way and he internally prays that he wouldn’t be as noisy as he was, but of course, this was Jongdae they were talking about and being loud was definitely his thing. “What the fuck! I totally did not expect this to happen, and oh god, is that—!?” he looks at Baekhyun, as if he was betrayed. “You’ve slept with the _enemy._ ”

“Jongdae, it’s not what you think. I—stop doing that! The guy is sleeping!“

Jongdae doesn’t listen to him and stomp on Chanyeol’s foot and pinches his arm. “Hey, Park Chanyeol! What do you think are you doing!? Not Baekhyun, you son of a bitch—Hey! Park Chanyeol, wake up and leave!”

Chanyeol tightens his embrace and what comes out of the mouth of Baekhyun is muffled. “Jongdae, stop being noisy—”

“So noisy, stop it…” Chanyeol mumbles, comfortable with his position. Baekhyun squirms and tries to prevent himself from moving too much.

Unfortunately for Chanyeol (and Baekhyun), Jongdae _doesn’t_ know how to stop. He harshly removes his hold of Baekhyun and makes Baekhyun stand up, near to him, arms protectively holding him, shielding him from the guy, as if Chanyeol was some bringer of the end of the world or something.

At the loss of warmth, Chanyeol wakes up, eyes blinking rapidly as he tries to adjust. He grumbles when he notices who was there. “Why is there an ugly face in front me. I must be having a nightmare.”

Baekhyun chuckles beside Jongdae and his roommate looks at him with a betrayed expression. He merely shrugs and says, “What? It was funny.”

“What are you doing here, Park Chanyeol? Why did I see the both of you acting like all those teen dramas that I _despise,_ looking cliche as fuck!?” he squints his eyes and backs away when Chanyeol sits up and gives him a glare, but Jongdae wasn’t backing out without a fight. “What do you want with _my_ baby?”

“ _Your_ baby?” Chanyeol asks incredulously. He rubs his eyes and then smirks, a teasing glint in his eyes.

Baekhyun had seen that far too many times over the week, the first time when he _blackmailed_ him, for him not to know how _that_ look will only do things he doesn’t like.

He proves himself right when Chanyeol says, “I must be really dreaming then. The last time I checked, Baekhyun is my one and only. Byun, are you cheating on me now?”

Both Baekhyun and Jongdae shout a resounding, _“What!?”_ With Jongdae almost flaring up and Baekhyun looking at Chanyeol confused, lost, and betrayed.

He can feel his cheeks heat up and it impossibly got worse when Chanyeol stood up and tugged Baekhyun by his wrist gently and made him stand by his side. Jongdae was too shocked to even react, not that Baekhyun was any better.

 _Maybe Chanyeol was still sleepy and he’s just thinking that all of this was a dream,_ Baekhyun thought. _Right, tell yourself that._

“You saw it a while ago, right?” Chanyeol asks Jongdae, a playful smile etched his lips. “We’re not cliche. We’re just _in love._ ”

Baekhyun visibly shudders at the thought of being _in love_ with Chanyeol. Seems like Jongdae was the same. 

“I don’t believe you. Baek, is this true?” Jongdae asks, narrowing his eyes. “You never mentioned anything about this… and I’ve only been gone for a week!”

Baekhyun shakes his head. “I-it isn’t—“

“Aw, look. He’s still shy. We’re still new, you’re right. You’re right,” Chanyeol says, pinching Baekhyun’s cheeks. “This happened when I was having a breakdown looking for you Jongdae. Seriously. I owe every bit of my _happiness_ to you.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widen and he immediately shakes his head in denial. “Jongdae, that isn’t true—“

“Shush, babe. Let me do the talking. I know you’re shy about this and I want to make it easier for you,” Chanyeol tells him, but Baekhyun knows that he’s doing this to be the one in favor. “Baekhyun was there to help me, you know? It made things a lot easier and it wasn’t really that hard not to like him after that. It felt like being home after so long.”

“Ha! You’ve been writing bullshit for months. You really think I’d believe everything that comes out of your mouth?” Jongdae asks in disbelief. Baekhyun can feel Chanyeol suddenly freezing, taken aback, but it wavers immediately as if it wasn’t even there to begin with. “If Baekhyun says it isn’t true, I’d believe him. He’s better than the three of us in here. So go say all of your bullshit to someone else, Park. Maybe they’d believe.”

“Don’t need to prove something to you, Jongdae. I know you’re just in denial, and you don’t want me stealing your precious Baekhyunnie.”

“Whatever, Park. Not _my_ baby, I’m telling you.”

“No one owns whoever, Jongdae. Just because I told you Baekhyun’s my one and only doesn’t mean I’m claiming him as my own. He’s got a life of his own and I don’t plan on controlling it or depriving his friendship with you or anyone else, at that matter, unless they’re a bad influence.”

Jongdae doesn’t reply, rolls his eyes and turns his back on them, heading towards their refrigerator to have something. Baekhyun uses it as an opportunity to pinch the person beside him to get his attention. He manages to get his attention and so he whispers, a little angrily, “How fucking _ironic_ of you to say I have a life of my own and yet you’re here making stupid decisions for me! I should be the one ignoring you since you’re the one who’s fucking problematic! What the heck do you think you’re doing!?”

Chanyeol shakes his head, leans in and whispers to Baekhyun. “What did he see a while ago?”

Baekhyun reddens and yet he still manages to rolls his eyes at the question. “Nothing that should concern your one brain cell, you fucking dumbass. Why do you keep on giving me more problems!? I don’t need more when I already have a lot on my fucking plate!” Baekhyun hisses, but keeps a smile on his lips when Jongdae narrows his eyes at them, wondering what they were whispering about. He discreetly pinches Chanyeol’s arm. “Honestly, do you want to have my problems? I’m sure I can share a few with you.”

“I think I have enough of my own. Thanks for the offer, though.”

“You are _insufferable._ I swear to—“

“What are the two of you doing there? Park Chanyeol, are you _tainting_ my baby?” Jongdae asks.

Chanyeol chuckles and presses Baekhyun to his side. “What are you talking about? Of course not. I just said that we should already start reviewing so that we’d be able to finish early,” Chanyeol looks down on Baekhyun, tilting his head, a small smile present on his face. “Right, Baekhyun?”

Somehow, with the way Chanyeol was asking him, it felt like it wasn’t merely just about going over the lesson. It felt like something else. Like he was asking for permission for something more. Maybe playing with him to tease the hell out of Jongdae, going over his notes, or maybe just to take advantage of Baekhyun’s inability to refuse. Or maybe all of it. He doesn’t know.

“B?”

He sighs and looks at Jongdae. “Yeah, we were about to review, but Chanyeol suddenly slept… and well, you arrived. Sorry, Dae. I kinda forgot that you were arriving today.”

“You _forgot?_ ” Jongdae asks in disbelief. “But you _never_ forget. Park Chanyeol, you toxic, problematic, bad influence little shi—“

“Dae, it’s not Chanyeol’s fault. I’ve just been busy. You know my situation right now, and I’m just… juggling everything. It’s still the same since the last time you left, only with more burden,” he interrupts, pointedly side-eyeing the person beside him when he mentioned about having an additional burden. It vanishes immediately as he gives a small and reassuring smile to his roommate. “Don’t worry about me. I’m still functioning. I’m just busy! I’ll have some well-deserved rest soon!”

“Ugh… I know leaving you alone this week will only make you overwork! You should be having your rest now, not dealing with a stupid idiot who doesn’t know the consequences of his actions,” Jongdae says, and Chanyeol, despite being insulted, couldn’t really focus on what Jongdae was saying.

He just felt out of place and worried, with the way Jongdae was acting all protective with Baekhyun. He remembered Baekhyun with a cotton candy  pink hair, saying that it was for a part time job, the Baekhyun who was furiously typing in his own laptop on his spare time, and just Baekhyun doing many things every chance that he has.

“I thought you were gonna be free today, so I arranged a date for you. Too bad, though… Kyungsoo’s a nice guy. He’s a better company than this self-centered, selfish asshole,” Jongdae whispers, tapping something on his phone. Chanyeol raises a brow at Baekhyun in amusement, and Baekhyun just looks away, blushing. Jongdae seems satisfied with what he did and looks at them, frowning instantly. “What are you guys still doing there, standing like idiots? Weren’t you gonna study? Shouldn’t you be at the library and _be_ responsible, like what the both of you are trying to show?”

“We were gonna do it here, since the library was close—”

“It isn’t,” Jongdae interrupts, confused. “I just passed by it today since I passed something to my professor.”

“There was an orientation last—”

“It’s isolated, I’m sure, ‘cause it’s Saturday and no one really likes spending their time there when they should be resting, like what you should be doing right now, Baekhyun,” Jongdae says with finality, pointedly at Baekhyun who was just looking down as if he was being scolded by a parent. Jongdae sighs. “As much as I want to watch the both of you and make sure that there’s nothing _fishy_ going on, I know for a fact that Baekhyun can’t work with anyone near his bed because he’d just sleep, and right now, that’s the only place that can fit the both of you. I don’t want to watch Chanyeol watch _you_ sleeping. I’ve had enough of him for this lifetime.”

Baekhyun doesn’t reply. He knows Jongdae is correct. Sure they can study on his desk, but then both of them would be too close to each other and Baekhyun doesn’t want to be _near_ the guy that’s creating havoc inside his head.

But he doesn’t exactly have a choice. If he wants to be able to help Chanyeol, he should at least be awake and conscious of what he was saying, not having 75% of his mind thinking of his bed and their close proximity.

Plus, he doesn’t think he’d be able to think straight after what had happened in a span of minutes of Chanyeol being in his room and the whole Jongdae and Chanyeol banter, and the relationship stuff. At least he’d be sane enough if they were in the library and they have no choice but to work.

“Jongdae’s right. We should go,” Baekhyun says and takes all of his things and dumps it in one bag.

Chanyeol does the same hurriedly. Jongdae was throwing glares at him and he just returns it with a _sweet_ smile. “What? You like me now or something? Are you gonna profess your love to me now that Baekhyun and I are… being ‘cliche’?”

“No. I’m just wondering how someone as fugly as you exists.”

“You use the word fugly? What year are you in, Jongdae? Did you time travel during your one week vacation and somehow—”

“Stop with the banters. You both are _childish,_ I swear,” Baekhyun says, cutting Chanyeol off, and he was already by the door, waiting for Chanyeol. He looks at Jongdae with a warning. “Dae, I’ll be back later. Please don’t mess up my things or else I’ll let you get soaked by your own vomit the next time you get drunk and decide to tag me along.”

“Alright, honey. Study well and don’t do anything yucky with the _enemy_ ,” Jongdae says, grinning, which turns into a grimace when he looks at Chanyeol.

Chanyeol makes kissy faces in his direction just to annoy him even more. “Don’t miss me Jongdae. We’ll both be seeing Professor Kim sometime soon, I’m sure he’d be _delighted_ after everything that happened.”

Chanyeol slams the door before Jongdae can even reply, but not before sticking his tongue out and seeing Jongdae’s expression morph into fear.

Once they were already out of earshot and already in the lobby, Baekhyun turns around and glares at him. Chanyeol instinctively backs away, getting ready to refute to any of his sarcastic remark.

“Why did you have to do that? To _say_ that?” Baekhyun asks, his frown turning deeper. Chanyeol isn’t sure what he’s talking about and Baekhyun notices this. He sighs and runs his hand through his hair. “You telling Jongdae that I’m your ‘one and only’ thing.”

Chanyeol shrugs. “I was just teasing Jongdae. It’s not like he’d believe me or something. He said so himself, he’d only believe in you, because you’re like the most trusted among us.”

“But he’s going to ask questions and I’m not in the mood to even put up with it. He’s going to have me confirm it and what am I supposed to say!?”

“You tell him the truth, then! Nobody’s stopping you. What, is Jongdae your boyfriend? Is that why you’re acting all defensive like this?” Chanyeol asks, and there’s some unwanted bitterness in his voice that he doesn’t know where came from. Baekhyun merely shook his head. “Then what’s the problem? Are you in a relationship right now?”

“No, I don’t have time for that,” Baekhyun says. “Jongdae knows that. _Everyone_ knows that.”

“Then what the heck is the problem? It’s not like I’m forcing you to be with me for the sake of teasing Jongdae. We don’t have to act like we’re in love with each other. I told you, it was just a joke. No need to think too much about it. You can just tell him that I joked around like the usual or something,” Chanyeol says as if it was just an easy thing to do. Baekhyun stays mum, chewing his bottom lip. “Hey, it’s not like I didn’t do you any favor. If I heard correctly he set you up with someone. Is it a usual thing?”

“Well, yeah. He sets me up in blind dates just for the sake of having a life, but it never really worked out—“

“See? Do you like being set up in one?”

“No, but—“

“Then this situation is win-win. I get to tease Jongdae and you got to dodge a blind date set up by him.”

“And what? I get to deal with you?” Baekhyun asks and there’s a hint of annoyance in his voice. Some anger looming that makes Chanyeol shut up. “You can’t just keep using me for your own benefit, Chanyeol. I’m not just something that you can control. Honestly, you’re just proving me right with that I’ve known about you. I should’ve just—“ he stops, sees something in Chanyeol and looks away. “Nevermind. Let’s just go.”

“You should’ve just what?” Chanyeol asks, not following Baekhyun who was making his own way to their campus.

“It’s nothing, Chanyeol. Let’s just go. We’ve already wasted too much of our time.”

Chanyeol doesn’t move. He just looks right at Baekhyun who was looking at him back. They don’t speak. They just stare and stand there as if calculating each of their move.

_Should’ve just what?_

_Should’ve believed what they said?_

_Should’ve walked away the first time?_

_Should’ve let him do whatever he wants and ruin his reputation?_

_Should’ve just what?_

“What are you doing there and just standing? Come on!” Baekhyun says, breaking the silence, turning his back on him, and jogging towards the campus entrance. His ears were red and he looks like he was flustered.

Chanyeol decides that whatever it was that Baekhyun said, he shouldn’t mind. Baekhyun was unpredictable in his own way, and it could’ve been something else.

He shakes his head and follows Baekhyun, hoping that he didn’t disappoint the only person who defended him and believed that he can be something more.

 

 

 

Their conversation from a while ago gets forgotten the moment they step inside the library, feeling the chill it brings. Baekhyun greets the librarian quietly and Chanyeol merely bows to her, gaze automatically going to Baekhyun’s back, following his lead quietly like an overgrown puppy.

“Hey, Baekhyun, you’re actually really good at this. How many people have you tutored for this subject?” Chanyeol asks as he scans his review material that Baekhyun had given him.

Baekhyun handed it to him as soon as they found a place inside the library. He said that it was his past materials, the ones he had used to go over. Apparently, all the lessons that Chanyeol had to study, Baekhyun had already studied in his previous years.

Chanyeol was beyond thankful. His notes, even if his handwriting is hard to understand, were more of a personal one. It had his own comments, his own understanding about the topic, besides what his professor had said.

Baekhyun looks startled with his question, seemingly focused on whatever it was that he was doing. He looks up from his gaze from his laptop and smirks. “Honestly? No one. Everyone just passed this class, Chanyeol. Even if they have the strictest professor. You’re like… what was that song?” he says, acting as if he was thinking, but the teasing smile on his face tells Chanyeol that he isn’t. He leans in and whispers, “Ah, _the only exception_.”

Chanyeol fake gasps. “Are you saying that I’m _that_ dumb?”

“Your words, not mine, Park,” Baekhyun says and shrugs.

“You call me a dumbass.”

“Hm. Touche,” Baekhyun says and looks back at his own laptop, minding his own business.

Chanyeol rolls his eyes first and opts to focus, going over the notes given to him. He _really_ had to study. His test was already next week and he doesn’t have any idea of how it was going to be like. Chanyeol, even if he was lazy, wants to pass and to be able to graduate without more problems that he’d like to have.

He gets distracted, however, by Baekhyun suddenly standing up, his chair screeching loudly and echoing in the library. He watches him look over the books, feeling it against his fingertips, and gracefully pulling out one book after another. He hugs it to his chest and puts it down gently beside his laptop. He reached for his pencil and a few of his scattered sticky tabs before reaching for the first book and making his own notes.

And Chanyeol just followed each of his movements, curious, and a lot more interested in Baekhyun than his own notes.

“What are you gonna do with all of those books?” Chanyeol asks, noticing how Baekhyun’s eyes quickly scans over the text, flipping it after a few seconds of looking.

“I’m doing my thesis,” Baekhyun replies, not sparing him any glace, placing one sticky tab and a cube note on the book.

“The plagiarized one?” Chanyeol teases.

At this, Baekhyun just looks at him with a frown and a shake of his head. “I told you, it isn’t plagiarized. I never did that, nor can I _ever_ do that,” he says.

Oh, of course Chanyeol knows that. He _believes_ Baekhyun can never do such thing, but it was still too nice and too fun to tease the guy and have him defensive.

“And can you please just go back to studying your own thing? I’m going to explain to you most of that later and ask some questions. Better be ready for some crash course.”

“What is your paper about?” Chanyeol curiously asks, ignoring Baekhyun’s suggestion, eyeing the number of books Baekhyun has around him. Baekhyun’s own study space was a lot messier compared to Chanyeol’s. “You know, most of the students use online journals nowadays. Mad respect to you who uses print. I like it. It’s satisfying.”

“I used online journals for the introduction part, but I have to use books for me to have some data,” Baekhyun explains, writing something again on his cube note and sticks it to the book. “My paper’s about how philosophy is evident in literature, in writings and stuff like that. I have to do some content analysis and that’s what I’m doing right now. Looking for different texts to interpret.”

“Oh, content analysis. That’s cool. I rarely see people use that,” Chanyeol says, mostly to himself.

Chanyeol can understand the struggle of doing one’s own paper, with him being stuck in the gathering of data part. Given that he was already late and catching up, he had a hard time looking for some spare time just to attend to it. While his other colleagues are probably resting or defending their paper, he was there, still struggling. Just like Baekhyun.

 _Wait._ Baekhyun’s still gathering his data instead of being done already.

“But shouldn’t you be done with your own paper already? Not just gathering your own data?” Chanyeol asks, trying to piece things together but failing to do so. “I mean, most of us in our department have already finished their paper. Almost all of the graduating students are, actually. How come you’re stuck in the same fate as me? Don’t tell me… you’re about to fail too?”

Baekhyun looks at him incredulously. “What? No, of course not!”

“Then why?”

Baekhyun sighs first, puts down his book, and looks at him, a small smile present on his face as he leans closer to Chanyeol so that he won’t have to talk too loud. “I was in a research group, since our professor said that we should work in groups for us to have an easier life as we do our thesis. And I had no choice but to comply even if I wanted to do my own thing. The topic one of my groupmates suggested was interesting enough for me to stay with them and work with them.

“But then I think the idea of being in a group with me made them think like everything was okay. That whatever we do, we’d do great, and they kinda just… relied on me all throughout, until the data gathering part. Like, they’d pass their stuff on the last minute while I fully committed doing mine, but I didn’t want to complain. Just as long as they do their own contribution and do good ones. We mostly worked on the paper and had conversations on our Google docs. I didn’t have any problem. I was satisfied with what they do. Beyond satisfied. They were doing great despite all the sleepless nights I did just to recheck whatever we had in our paper while they go and do their own business. It never crossed my mind that they’d do things that the shouldn’t. I trusted them. They had a good record.

“However, when I shared the paper to my professor for some initial checking, that’s when I figured out that they were… copying another work. That some of the phrases were literally just put as is without paraphrasing and stuff. My professor did some online plagiarism checking stuff and asked me about it. Of course I didn’t want them to be at fault, but then our professor said that he already talked with my other groupmates and said that it was my part that was copied and stuff, even though I never really did that. I was scared, thinking that I’d be given an offense, or worse, I’d be kicked out of school, but luckily, my professor didn’t believe them.

“I was given the choice to either still work with them or do my own paper in a limited time. I was gonna work with them, just to finish whatever it was that I started, but then I didn’t want to work with them anymore, especially when they were just being a burden to me, so I opted for doing my own paper so that I’d still be able to comply to the requirement. I didn’t mind the work and the limited time, but _they_ did. And I guess, because of that, they spread out bullshit about me doing the plagiarizing thing. It’s just such a highschool thing to do and I didn’t have the time to attend to them when I have my own problems to deal with caused by them. So, that’s that.”

Chanyeol didn’t know what to say. He looks at Baekhyun quietly for quite a long time and Baekhyun seems flustered with the attention he’s giving him. He puts his palm on his face and pushes him away, but Chanyeol still couldn’t react. “Stop looking at me like that. You don’t have to pity me. It’s not that sad. I’m much happier doing things alone and I like this topic more, so it’s not that bad. This situation is not some sob story that anyone should cry about.”

“But you’ve been accused of plagiarism,” Chanyeol says. “And that’s just… terrible. How can people be like that when they should be the one ashamed?”

“I don’t know and I honestly don’t care. It’s not true anyway, the plagiarizing thing, and what’s important was the truth and not some rumor that exists just because they can’t do things on their own and admit their wrongdoings. It’s not worth it,” Baekhyun says, his gaze going back to his book again.  “Now, enough about me. Can you please do—”

“I’m sorry,” Chanyeol lets out, suddenly feeling guilty after hearing Baekhyun’s story. “For trying to make the rumors go a lot bigger and be known by everyone in the campus.”

Baekhyun raises a brow at him, as if amused, like he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He looks at Chanyeol in disbelief, waiting for Chanyeol to take back what he had just said, but Chanyeol was just looking at him sincerely. It makes Baekhyun look away. “It… It’s fine. It’s not like you published it and it’s not like it isn’t true that I was accused of it. Now, can you please stop pitying me and go review so that we both can go back to our dorms merrily and forget that we even had this type of conversation?”

“But—”

“Please.”

Baekhyun was pleading, his eyes were telling him not to press further, and if he reads it correctly, it means that everything was okay and that it really wasn’t such a big deal like what he tells him.

Chanyeol looks away.

“Okay.”

 

 

 

“How was the test?” Baekhyun asks the moment Chanyeol sits down across him.

Chanyeol sits down, places his bag beside him, and slouches on his seat instead of opening his stuff and do his own thing.

They didn’t see each other the last two days, since both of them had their own errands to run, with Chanyeol trying to look for more participants and Baekhyun with trying to find for some one-day easy money thing for a part time job.

Baekhyun looks different today, in Chanyeol’s own opinion. Like he had enough sleep and had no worries or whatsoever. It was just him, his smile, the same oversized hoodie he likes to wear, and the laptop in front of him. No books or post-its all over his space.

He was glowing.

“T’was postponed on the last minute. He said he has a meeting,” Chanyeol says, looks away, and proceeds to lie his head down on the table. “I’m so tired. I feel jealous with everyone who are done with their stuff.”

“Well, that’s what you get for putting things aside.”

“No more lecturing please. I’ve had enough of that today,” Chanyeol grumbles. Baekhyun just listens, humming to tell Chanyeol that he can go on, like he can sense that Chanyeol has more to say about his situation. And he does have more to say. “I talked to Professor Kim today, along with Jongdae. He asked why we weren’t publishing anything and why weren’t there any updates in the online accounts. Had to say my problems and got an earful, alright. So I’d appreciate it if you won’t do anything to make my ear gone or something. I think you’ve done a good job in lecturing me in your texts anyway.”

They’ve been texting too. During class hours while attending to their other requirements for clearance. In between breaks of their own business. Before they sleep. Just basically talking, teasing, and pointing out each other’s mistakes. Giving each other some welcomed and comfortable company.

“What did he say about the articles?” Baekhyun asks gently.

“He was… disappointed in me, of course,” Chanyeol says, looking up, only to see Baekhyun so close to him, and in panic, he immediately lays his head back down again just to hide his face, afraid of it showing a shade of red that he didn’t want to have. “Said that it was irresponsible of me and that I should just believe of what others are capable of, not look down on them, and avoid doing everything for them. That I should learn how to teach them, not let them be dependent on me.”

“Professor Kim is right, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun says. “Why did you do it, anyway? Why did you let them just do their own thing and handle things as if you alone can do it?”

Ever since Saturday, something in their relationship changed. There’s still an elephant in the room, and yet, for some reason, the both of them just feel comfortable talking to each other, what they are up to, ranting about whatever it was that was frustrating them, and just listening to each other until the both of them or either one of them feels better. Somehow, the previous childish banter and hours of teasing evolved to something else. Something with a little bit of childishness with a great sense of comfort and more. Something that they still can’t name but it’s there, just lingering, waiting for at least one of them to acknowledge.

“I wasn’t alone. I was with Jongdae during those times.”

“He was the one taking the photos or looking for those you can use, but you were the one doing most of the articles. He didn’t know much about what was indicated, being busy and just cooperating with whatever, which is why he left so suddenly when he found out a little too late of what was happening,” Baekhyun corrects him and Chanyeol pouts, face still looking elsewhere, avoiding Baekhyun’s eyes and the way it gives him too much comfort, overwhelming him, because no one had ever made him feel this way and this fast.

Baekhyun taps his fingers on the table. “You know, when I first heard about this… whole… gossip paper thing that you’ve been doing, I couldn’t believe it. They were saying that you were the ones who wrote the articles and not the ones named in it. And I was wondering, why on earth would somebody do that? Why would someone write for the sake of another person, only for it to be problematic? It’s like… you were trying to save something, thinking that it was what is needed and what would at least be deemed as something correct or acceptable in your standards, only to end up ruining it even more.”

Somehow, all the warm feelings that he had when he saw Baekhyun were replaced with a feeling of dread and guilt, something that he’s been trying to suppress ever since, but never really got the time to deal with.

“Were they really too busy and refused to do work or were they busy and you let them be since you think they were not that much of a help anyway?”

At that question, Chanyeol sits up and looks at Baekhyun, and tries to conceal what he was feeling with a nervous chuckle. “What did I tell about another lecturing? Can I just pass from this talk?”

“I’m not forcing you to tell me. I’m just… curious, but if you don’t want to tell me, then that’s fine.”

Chanyeol was just looking at Baekhyun cautiously, trying to see if it was right to tell him. What Baekhyun had said hit too close to home. It was the same idea with what Sehun had said to him before, but somehow, Baekhyun’s was a lot sharper and its truth hurt more than it should have.

Baekhyun clears his throat and sits properly. He gives Chanyeol a small smile. “Don’t answer it anymore. Anyway, when’s your—”

“They weren’t that much of help,” Chanyeol tells him, interrupting Baekhyun. Baekhyun immediately shuts up, waiting for him to continue. “Well, they were… helpful, in some way, but they never really matched my standards. Like… it was just… mediocre. And I always end up doing so much just to have it acceptable. So when I was struggling to get their responses on the group chat, I didn’t make that much effort for it to work… Honestly, it’s just… my fucked up way of thinking that’s stopping me from helping others to improve. I’m the only one to blame.”

“That’s not true. You’re not entirely to blame, but… you are at the bigger fault,” Baekhyun says. “I know how it feels to have high standards in many things. I mean, I have high standards too, especially in things that I’m good at, but of course I have to adjust and consider that not everyone is good at what I’m doing and that it’s either they should learn it too, or at least be able to adapt to it.”

“I know. You’re right. That’s what I’ve been hearing for quite some time now,” Chanyeol says, playing with the hem of his sweater. “It’s just… hard. But I’d keep that in mind. I think things have taken its toll in me now.”

“That’s good. At least you learned something from the experience and hopefully, you’d be better. Try apologizing to some of the people that got mad at you or those that were put into blame because of you when you have the time, alright? Or if ever you just have the chance,” Baekhyun advices and Chanyeol merely nods, suddenly feeling drained from the talk they just had. Baekhyun notices the shift in their mood so he just shrugs it all of and tries to move on, “So, anyway, when’s your—”

“Baekhyun! You’re here!” a familiar voice calls out, and Baekhyun sees Chanyeol’s eyes widen when he realizes who it was, making him look at the owner of the voice.

“Oh, Seulgi, hey. What’s up?” Baekhyun asks upon seeing who it was that had called his attention.

“I bumped onto Professor Jung and he told me that if I find you somewhere, I should return you your draft for you to be able to edit your paper as soon as possible. He said that he emailed you this morning, but then he thought you weren’t coming anytime soon, and he was in a rush, so…” Seulgi says, handing him his draft. She turns to Chanyeol and gives him a tight-lipped smile. “Hi, Chanyeol. Good to see you. Still studying with Baekhyun?”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol replies, his voice small and he seems intimidated.

“Thanks, Seulgi,” Baekhyun says as he looks at the paper handed to him. He then turns his gaze to Chanyeol who was just looking down, uncomfortable. Baekhyun looks at Seulgi and remembers the woman’s hatred to Chanyeol because of what his article had caused her.

He kicks Chanyeol from underneath to gain his attention, and Chanyeol looks at him, eyes wide and confused. He eyes him and discretely looks at Seulgi, as if trying to tell him something. He doesn’t understand, shaking his head, and Baekhyun fights the urge to smack his head.

“Well, I’m… off to go. Take care of yourself, Baekhyun. I’ll see you arou—”

“Wait, before you go… I think Chanyeol has something to say to you,” Baekhyun says, looking at Chanyeol pointedly. If Chanyeol can’t understand, then he’d _make_ him understand. “Right, Chanyeol?”

“What?” Chanyeol whispers, and he honestly wasn’t ready. He was just berating himself a while ago upon seeing Seulgi, remembering how Baekhyun defended him before when Seulgi expressed her annoyance to him. He remembers what he had done, but he wasn’t exactly ready to apologize. He was _planning_ to say sorry, but he didn’t know that he had to do it _now._ He needed more courage.

And yet, Baekhyun was there, Seulgi was there, and the both of them were waiting for him to say something.

_Here goes nothing._

He sighs and looks at Seulgi. “Look, Seulgi… about the article before…” he swears he hears her gasp upon the mention of it. “I’m… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I know you’re a great leader and you deserve to be there, and you just had some… fall back before, but I know you’re good at what you’re doing and you don’t deserve the backlash caused by it, so I’m… sorry. I know the damage has been done, but… I just… hope it lessens your… annoyance.”

He doesn’t know where that came from and if he even made any sense, but Seulgi seems surprised with the sudden apology. She looks at Baekhyun warily, looking for something in him, and she returns her gaze to Chanyeol, lips pursed.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to accept the apology. I just wanted to say it before the year ends,” he adds, finding it hard to shut up, suddenly pressured by her presence and Baekhyun’s encouraging nods.

Seulgi smiles at him, genuinely this time. “It’s fine. It’s done now and people have probably forgotten all about it. Can’t say that the hatred completely vanished though, but… at least,” Seulgi says and Chanyeol just nods understandingly. She looks at Baekhyun and gives him a smile. “Well, I’m really gonna go now. Don’t let me disturb your… study date or something.”

Baekhyun visibly reddens. “It’s not a—” he watches Seulgi make her way to the exit, giggling. “Date…”

Chanyeol shakes his head and opens his bag to look for his notes. “Seulgi is really pretty.”

“Yeah, she is. She’s a very nice person too.”

“Do you like her?” Chanyeol asks, curious, because they seem to be close and they have this vibe of sharing knowing glances and comfortable silences.

“Well, I just said that she’s a nice person, so of course I like her.”

“No, what I meant was, do you like _like_ her? More than a friend or a sibling type of liking.”

Baekhyun freezes. He looks at Chanyeol and immediately looks away, feeling his cheeks heat up. “No. Never had time to like people more than I should.”

“But… have people liked you, though? Like, have they confessed to you?” Baekhyun didn’t answer. He was just biting his bottom lip, his cheeks turning redder and redder as the time passes by. “No?”

“It’s none of your business, Park Chanyeol,” Baekhyun mutters, failing to conceal the slight shaking of his voice, probably from the embarrassment. “Now, can we just do something else instead of talking and risking ourselves to be kicked out of this place? We’ve been talking too much in here, and I feel like we’ve known too much about ourselves for the past few minutes that we’ve been together. Too many things are happening that I feel like we’re not even in the library anymore with how comfortable we are talking in here. We’re lucky not many people like the library.”

“Ooh. Change of topic, I see,” Chanyeol says, his palm beneath his chin as he looks at Baekhyun, amused to no end. “You know, it’s nothing to be ashamed of if no one ever confessed to you. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re not likeable. Maybe some of the people are just… intimidated by your greatness or something.”

“God, Chanyeol. Stop making things embarrassing and awkward as it already is!” Baekhyun hisses. “And I know that, okay!? I just never had the time to deal with these types of things.”

“Will you ever have the time?”

Baekhyun looks away. “Maybe once I’m done with my requirements and I can go walk merrily along the hallways.”

“Oh, so if you’re already done with all of that, then somebody can try their luck and ask you out?” Chanyeol hypothetically asks. Baekhyun doesn’t answer and instead buries his face on his hands, shaking his head out of embarrassment. It was too cute, too amazing to even pass it up, and Chanyeol, not knowing where the sudden thought comes from, asks, “So if I ask you out by then, you’d give me a chance?”

Baekhyun’s eyes widened in disbelief. He opens and closes his mouth, loss for words.

Chanyeol tries to laugh off his sudden nervousness. “Just kidding, B. You’re just so cute to tease,” he says, and he sees Baekhyun breathe out, as if only realizing that he _knows_ how to breathe. He smiles at him. “Hey, for the record, and no jokes included, you’re not that hard to like.”

Baekhyun was still at loss for words, only going redder and redder in every word that Chanyeol says.

Chanyeol chuckles, flipping his notes. “My test is on Friday and I’m still struggling with theories in social and political philosophy. Why don’t we start our study date now?”

“S-study date!? Shut up!” Baekhyun hisses and he looked red as a tomato, not being given the chance to calm down and endure all the embarrassment that Chanyeol had caused him.

Chanyeol laughs out loud. “Jesus Christ, Byun. Why are you so red? Are you really that flustered with the idea of us having a date?”

“I said, shut the fuck up or I swear to god I will—“

A loud _shh_ from the librarian shuts the both of them up.

Baekhyun looks very much flustered, still trying to avoid Chanyeol’s eyes as he frustratingly flips his draft over.

“Cute,” Chanyeol whispers.

But Baekhyun still hears it and his breath hitches. _God… stop making me feel overwhelming things. I can only handle so much._

“You know, smartass, you’re a lot different from what I thought of you.”

“Different—“ he stops when his voice was too high pitched. He clears his throat and tries to calm himself down, holding his cheeks and squishing it.

Chanyeol just looks at him fondly, eyes softening, lips tugged upward, his dimple showing, thinking, how can someone be infuriatingly cute.

When Baekhyun calms down, he clears his throat and sits up straight as if nothing happened. “Different in what way?”

Chanyeol shrugs. “I guess I just thought that most students like you would more likely be… quiet. And somehow mysterious and curious. Don’t get me wrong, you’re very… mysterious in your own way, like you make me want to get to know you,” Baekhyun clears his throat and Chanyeol fights the urge to laugh at his now heating up face all over again. “What I meant was, you know, never-ending questions about life, like the answer to a question is another question type of thing. You’re like the opposite of it, and if I knew you earlier, you’re really the last person that I’d think of majoring in Philosophy.”

“I _do_ question many things, Chanyeol. It’s part of life. Asking is a way to learn things. It’s a never-ending cycle,” Baekhyun whispers, looking down, playing with the hem of his hoodie. After a while, he looks at Chanyeol and smiles, and for some reason, Chanyeol feels like he ran out of breath. “Like, Socrates’ saying, _the unexamined life is not worth living,_ except not the extent where I’d really overthink stuff. Have to know how to balance.”

“Balance?”

“You know, it’s… nice to examine one’s life every once in a while, try to think of your own life and how you’ll be able to attain wisdom, knowledge, and happiness, but sometimes thinking means overdoing it. Overthinking leads to many things that you may not like, things that you could’ve prevented, things that you may have done but your brain got in the way,” Baekhyun says and his gaze was far as he says those words, as if thinking deeply, and Chanyeol just can’t help but look and be captivated whenever he sees Baekhyun being all smart.

“So you have to find balance. See when you have to examine life, see when to go with the flow, and all that, just to see if you’re living your life to the fullest. I mean, these are my own thoughts, alright? My own interpretation. Others may have their own and I respect that. I just feel like life’s a constant battle with your own mind, but you gotta keep sane, I guess,” Baekhyun tells him, his gaze still far, and then he quietly laughs and shakes his head. “I don’t want to bore you with all these stuff. I know you don’t like Philosophy and maybe you don’t understand half of the things that I’m saying—“

“No, go on. Tell me all about it. Make me understand. I like listening to you talk,” he replies and he’s afraid of how much he means it.

That he doesn’t mind listening to Baekhyun talk about his major even if he never really liked it. There’s some satisfaction of seeing him so passionate of what he knows and how feels confident of sharing his thoughts. It was a different type of satisfaction that he feels when he tries to tease the hell out of him.

He just… wants him to keep going if that’s what’s making him happy. If that’s what makes him comfortable.

Baekhyun looks away when Chanyeol says that, feeling the heat in his cheeks, and he wants to groan, scream, _how can this man make him flustered all throughout?_

He guesses he’s just weak for guys who knows how to appreciate him whenever he’s talking about something he likes. He’s weak for guys who know how to give compliments, tease him to no end, and yet know how to listen when needed.

Not that he’s suddenly into him or anything.

It just… makes him see Chanyeol in a different light.

Different from the hatred harboring inside of him ever since the stupid incident and the trouble he had caused to his friends.

It was just… different.

“Why Philosophy?” Chanyeol suddenly asks and it snaps Baekhyun out of his reverie. “Not many people know all about it, so I was just curious of how you got to know this.”

This whole talking feels like they’re getting to know each other, like those cafe dates or spontaneous ones that make one flustered and—

_Stop thinking of those! Why are you thinking of this as a date?_

_It’s not. It’s just studying,_ he convinces himself.

 _A study date,_ a tiny voice inside his head corrects him and he wants to smack it out of his thoughts.

“Hey?” Chanyeol snaps his fingers in front of Baekhyun. “Everything alright? Did I make you uncomfortable with the question? I’m sorry. You can just forget—“

“No, it’s fine. It’s not really something… too personal,” Baekhyun says and clears his throat. “I, uh, took this major because my parents didn't like it. And I just… wanted to do something against them for the first time, feeling rebellious, and all that. I know it’s a weird reason, and you may think we have a bad relationship, but no, not really. It’s more like… I just want to pursue something that they didn’t force me to be into. I mean, I can learn anything. I like learning new things, but… I don’t know. I just can’t see myself in something and I ended up here and I love it. It’s not like they can do anything about it. I’m here with a scholarship, so they’re not exactly paying for my education and they can’t use that against me, but I think they see now that I’m just happy with where I am, and that they’re not worrying with me having nothing in the future.”

Chanyeol looks at Baekhyun in admiration, remembering how smart and passionate the guy was, all of his achievements, and those who recognize him because of it. He’s made a name of himself even before he had graduated.

“You’re going to be great in the future. You’re going to do great things and make yourself remembered,” Chanyeol comments. “Well, that’s if you still do the things that you do now and explore more. It depends on what you’ll do in your life and how you’ll strategize. No pressure in being the greatest immediately. Things take time… but I know, even if it takes long for you, you’ll find a way.”

Baekhyun stares at Chanyeol, and he laughs because they’ve come a long way. From being called stupid, to childishly giving comments here and there, and now talking about something he rarely talks about…

He’s sure he never expected for this to happen.

Chanyeol was… something else. He knew this before, even past all the articles, even when he thought of his wrongdoings. He knew he can be something that can have something to show, to prove, that he was smart and was just heading in the wrong direction. Someone who had yet to learn something valuable. Someone more of how others perceive him.

Self-centered, too full of himself, independent, annoying, obnoxious little shit, who was willing to learn and set things right in the last minute.

And he sure knows the right words to say to make himself known and remembered. Admired.

“Thanks, Chanyeol,” he murmurs and scratches his head. “You’re not so bad. You’re… something else.”

And it was Chanyeol’s turn to feel flustered, surprised with what Baekhyun had said. All throughout the month, all he had heard were insults, hatred, and disappointments, and it just felt so new for him to hear a compliment.

It means so much more that it came from a person whom he’s suddenly admiring. Someone whom he’s starting to like.

They keep quiet like that, finding it hard to look at each other and just playing with whatever they were holding. It felt awkward, because they were suddenly being nice to each other, like they have talked about whatever it is that needed to be talked about. No more elephant in the room. Just them… thinking of each other’s words, replaying everything that had happened today inside their heads, and suddenly realizing how much their feud had changed into something else.

Baekhyun clears his throat. “So, um, this Friday… is your test? And, uh, you still need, uh, help in the theories, right?”

He wants to hit himself when he realizes he’s struggling with his words, finding it hard to talk with Chanyeol.

Chanyeol clears his throat and laughs breathily. “Yeah…”

“Then, um, let’s… get back to work.”

 

 

 

“You’re awfully quiet right now.”

Chanyeol arrived around 20 minutes ago, ready to complain about the test he had and to ask for some comfort from Baekhyun just to have an excuse of talking to him, but then the guy was just busy looking at his laptop, not even sparing him a glance even when he intentionally did things loudly just to catch his attention.

“Huh? This is my usual self, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun says, gaze still on his laptop. His glasses were almost falling and he fights the urge to fix it for him. Baekhyun scrunches his nose and clicks something on his laptop. “I just tend to be quiet when I’m already in a comfortable space.”

This catches Chanyeol’s interest. “Oh? Does that mean you’re comfortable with me now?”

“Maybe…” Baekhyun replies, and he smirks when he looks at Chanyeol, tilting his head to the side. “Or maybe I just read something about Taurus and got amused by it and it made me contemplate and stuff.”

“You believe that?” Chanyeol asks incredulously. “That’s cute.”

Baekhyun ignores the other’s remark, but he couldn’t control the blush that creeps into his cheeks. “Sometimes I do. It’s interesting how they’re accurate. But, I don’t exactly let it dictate my life. It’s still up to us anyway.”

Chanyeol hums. “That’s true,” he says, nodding. “Have you tried doing the compatibility thing then?”

“Yeah, I even tried ours a few years back,” Baekhyun says absentmindedly and Chanyeol freezes with what he said, his eyes widening as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard, his heart beating fast, caught off guard.

Baekhyun seems to realize what he had just said, hands covering his mouth, and his ears turning red.

“Oh, god. It isn’t—I mean, I knew you before, because of—but—oh god! What I meant was I tried it when this teaching started—I don’t think that’s even gonna save me—I mean, _god,_ just forget I even said anything! I didn’t do anything, okay!? I just try each of it, like Leo, Virgo, and others and what my compatibility is with them! Fuck, this is so embarrassing!”

“Oh, so put things short, you’ve looked up our compatibility then?” Chanyeol tries to laugh it all off, and he was suddenly feeling hot, fanning himself as he clutches hard on his notebook.

“I tried it with everything, okay!” Baekhyun replies defensively. “I didn’t mean that I checked it because of you.”

“Hm. If you say so,” Chanyeol says and he touches his ears, just to calm down what he was suddenly feeling because of Baekhyun. “What does it say then? About Taurus and Sagittarius?”

“I don’t remember. _Please_ don’t ask me. This is too embarrassing for me already. Why did we even have this conversation? I shouldn’t have searched anything about this. Nor should I even believe it.”

“Does it say that we’re a hundred percent compatible? Is that why you’re so embarrassed?” Chanyeol asks, and he’s not sure why he’s hoping that it is what it says, but he does anyway, if it’s anything that would help him be closer to the guy.

“I don’t think that’s it. I can’t remember. It’s been a long time ago.”

“Then go search it.”

“Why don’t you do it?”

“You’re the one who’s already in the site! It saves time.”

“You’re so fucking embarrassing. _This_ is embarrassing. I hope the land swallows me, I swear,” Baekhyun mumbles, typing on his laptop. Chanyeol just looks at him, patient and amused with the way Baekhyun was pouting while looking at his screen, and the way it changes into a grin, his eyes turning crescent when he looks at Chanyeol. “Ha! The compatibility of a relationship between a Taurus and a Sagittarius is not probable, it says here. One is too independent, the other one is ready to settle. Both are too different that it seems like the relationship would not work.”

“Let me guess, it says there that if they manage to work on that, they’ll be able to make it work and they’ll be a powerful couple,” Chanyeol guesses, already picturing how that would happen, like the way they had suddenly compromised and got to know each other despite them starting things in the wrong way. “I’m also guessing that the one who’s ready to settle and be in his own space is Sagittarius and the one who’s independent is Taurus.”

“It’s the other way around, actually.”

“Oh, so you’re ready to settle then?” Chanyeol asks teasingly.

Baekhyun turns beet red. “No, god, please let’s just drop this topic altogether,” Baekhyun hisses, lowering his voice upon feeling the librarian walking around. “How was your test?”

“Alright, if that’s what you want,” Chanyeol says, shrugging. Then he remembers his test and he groans, hits his head on the table before letting out the same dramatic cry that he had done during the first week of breakdown. “B, he made me answer 10 questions that I had to give evidence or an example to in 15-20 sentences.”

“Oooh. Ruthless. What was it about?”

“Theories on social and political philosophy. He said it was the one that was related to my major, said that he was making my life easier.”

Baekhyun laughs out loud, remembering how much Chanyeol had struggled on understanding its concept and trying to apply it in real life. “What a luck you have there.”

“Tell me about it,” Chanyeol grumbles. “I’m just glad I’m almost done with my paper and that all I have to do is the conclusion part. I can do that in, like, 30 minutes, then I just have to proofread and all of the pain is over.”

Chanyeol spent his free time looking for participants willing to participate in an interview. Some were conducted in groups and some were interviewed privately, since Baekhyun was the one who helped him look for the other ones, those that were his friends. When he talked to his professor and informed him about having 45 participants and only 5 more left, his professor said that it was already enough and that he can already go write the last few chapters of his paper.

To say that he was relieved was an understatement.

He spent the past few days trying to transcribe his paper, worrying less about studying for Philosophy, knowing too well that he had studied enough with Baekhyun’s help.

All with Baekhyun’s help. He’s grateful.

“That’s good then. At least your problems are decreasing,” Baekhyun says and gives him a pat to his head. “How about… Visionario, though? Shouldn’t you be busy writing something or checking whatever it was that your writers and editors are doing?”

Chanyeol shrugs. “Still operating online, but not in print. The others were already approaching me, and I’m _really_ helping them out this time. Not just letting them pass and do whatever. I know it’s too late, but I at least want to do things right before I hand the position to someone else. Professor Kim said that we can just publish something before the term ends. One that’s credible and proper,” he says and looks at Baekhyun. “How ‘bout you? How’s your paper?”

Baekhyun grins at him. “I’m done. I just need to present it this Monday and I don’t have anything else to worry about.”

“Really? Then that’s even better than what I have achieved this week!” Chanyeol says. “Are you doing something after this? Any easy money thing that you’d do?”

“Nah, but I do have to go back early for me to prepare stuff for the presentation. And to look for easy money stuff tomorrow. I’m resting today, but I’ll be back here tomorrow.”

“Why do you even need the money?”

“So that I can buy the things that I want,” Baekhyun says and shrugs. “Nothing too dramatic or anything. I just want to save up for future purposes. You’ll never know when you’ll need it.”

“Understandable,” Chanyeol says, nodding. “Are you sure you don’t have anything else to do?”

Baekhyun nods, but he frowns and pouts. “Why, though?”

“Great!” he exclaims and packs his things on his bag. “We should do something. Like, eat outside. How ‘bout some pork and beef? My treat!”

“We just ate one last week!” Baekhyun exclaims, but he lowers his voice when he sees the librarian glare at him. “And stop treating me. This feels like I owe you or something.”

Chanyeol cleans up Baekhyun’s space too, stacking up his things and placing it neatly so that Baekhyun won’t have a hard time packing it up fast.

“Then treat it like something else. Like… a date.”

“What?” he stops packing up his things, looking at Chanyeol in surprise. “A date?”

Chanyeol just grins at him and waits for him to finish.

 

 

 

As much as he wants to be alone with Baekhyun and spend the rest of their Friday celebrating for being almost done with their requirements, Chanyeol had a little shit of a friend that takes any chance to ruin everything for him.

“Hey, Yeol, you’re gonna pay for me too, right?” Sehun asks cheekily and Chanyeol fights the urge to smack him.

Sehun had entered the moment they were being served of the side dishes. He had the audacity to sit beside him, tell him that he can’t believe he met them there, and how much he was craving for some _samgyupsal_ for the past weeks.

He even introduced himself to Baekhyun and said that he had heard _so much_ about him, and this makes the guy flustered, remembering what he had read that time he and Chanyeol first ate out.

“Sure,” he grits his teeth in reply, glaring at Sehun, but Sehun just sticks his tongue out. “Son of a bitch.”

“Hm? What?” Sehun teases.

“Nothing, you fuck. Just eat.”

“Cute,” Baekhyun says, looking at the both of them having their own banter. Seems like they are really close. He looks at Sehun curiously. “Sehun, what’s your major? I mean, I remember you as… part of my electives, but I never really talked to you.”

“I study Psychology.”

Baekhyun brightens up. “Oh, so you know Jongdae then?”

“Yeah, we’ve talked,” Sehun says, chewing his food. “You guys are roommates, right? He talks about you a lot.”

“I hope it’s all good things.”

“Of course it is. I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about you, not only from Jongdae,” he smiles and nudges Chanyeol. “Right, Chanyeol?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Chanyeol says and just looks at Baekhyun, shaking his head. “Don’t mind him. Just go eat. Here.”

Baekhyun watched Chanyeol refill his drink and place a few of the served the grilled pork on top of his rice while pointedly ignoring Sehun’s presence. He smiles, thinking how he did it all without being asked and he appreciates the action, of how Chanyeol was tending to him first before him. It was endearing to watch. Like it was something that he can get used to.

Sehun sees Chanyeol doing it too and he doesn’t say anything, even if his mouth was itching to say something about how he never does that to anyone else unless it was his family, unless the people they are with was someone special enough for him to be taken care of.

 

 

 

Chanyeol bids goodbye to Baekhyun, waving his hand as he watches him enter his own dormitory.

Once he was gone, Sehun whistles and follows Chanyeol as they make their way back to their own dorm.

Sehun breaks the silence. “So, are you guys boyfriends yet or…?”

Chanyeol gives him a glare. “Seriously, man, shut the fuck up.”

_Just a bit more time._

 

 

 

“Were you out with your boyfriend?” Jongdae asks the moment Baekhyun steps inside their shared room.

“Shut up, Jongdae. You know he isn’t my boyfriend.”

“Not yet,” Jongdae says, clicking his tongue.

“What? You approve of him now?”

Jongdae hums. “I don’t like what he had done, but I can see he’s trying to do something about it, like he’s trying to make up for it,” he says, munching his popcorn before he presses the spacebar on his laptop. “Plus, I feel like you had some contribution in it, and something in your… hatred in him changed. Something better. Like you’re not anymore thinking of that time he called you stupid and how he’s very much problematic.”

“That’s—That’s not—”

“And you’re going out more. So I can’t exactly complain when you’re happy with your company,” Jongdae says then pats the place beside him. “Don’t deny it anymore. I heard you humming when you entered the room. You only do that when you’re too happy to even notice it,” he points out and with that, Baekhyun shuts up, feelings his cheeks heat up. Jongdae rolls his eyes. “Just come here. Watch this movie with me.”

Baekhyun pouts but follows Jongdae anyway. “What are you watching?”

“Titanic.”

Baekhyun plugs Jongdae’s other earphone to his ear and snuggles to Jongdae’s side. Jongdae just lets him be, wraps his arm around him, and runs his hand through his hair. “Had fun?”

Baekhyun hums and lets himself bask in the comfort with Jongdae beside him. His mind goes back to Chanyeol attending to him first, listening to him whenever he’s talking, giving him attention whenever he’s talking about something he’s interested in. The way he teases and still knows how to comfort him anyway. How he tries to make up for things that he had known he was wrong in and how he tried so hard just for him to be able to fix what he had broken.

Sure it was fun. The past few weeks were fun, despite all the childish comments here and there.

“Yeah. I can get used to it,” he whispers, eyes fixed on the screen, but his mind was elsewhere.

“Good.”

 

 

 _B_ [16:48]

 _u goin to the library 2day?_ [16:48]

 _Yes, I’m here now. Been here since 10 AM. Why?_ [16:50]

 _Do you still need help with something?_ [16:50]

 _I thought you were done already…_ [16:50]

 _nothin just wanted to ask hehe_ [16:50]

 _don’t miss my company_ [16:50]

 _Never!_ [16:51]

 

 

“What. Are you doing here?” Baekhyun asks, surprised to see Chanyeol taking a seat beside him holding absolutely nothing.

“I’m here to keep you company. I don’t want you to miss me and forget all about it.”

“What the heck are you even saying…” Baekhyun mumbles, feeling his face flush because of what Chanyeol had said.

“Don’t mind me. I’m just gonna read here and let you do you work. If you need my help, I’d gladly give you assistance,” Chanyeol says and pulls out his phone to entertain himself with something to read.

Baekhyun stares at him, having a hard time to comprehend whatever it was that was happening.

He can’t believe Chanyeol was beside him, giving him company, when he can just have a rest or do his own shit in his own room. He was here, reading quietly, telling Baekhyun that if ever he needs help, he’d give it, letting Baekhyun do things that he was happy about while he just sits there and wait for him to finish.

_Stop… overwhelming me…_

He purses his lips and just looks at his own presentation, minds his own business while trying to not look at the guy sitting beside him, heads down while looking at his phone, tapping from time to time as he reads quietly and waits for Baekhyun.

He can’t really afford to be distracted, not when he has to do well with this presentation. He knows that his professor was nice enough to even give him this much time to finish his paper, but he wants to prove that the time given to him was worth it. That he didn’t make a mistake giving Baekhyun some time.

He wants to do this perfectly.

And he was nervous. He sighs. He’s been worried about this all day, once everything sinked in, and he realized that this was the only thing that he had to worry about, and it was the biggest one that he has to focus on or else it’s over for him.

“You okay?” Chanyeol suddenly asks beside him.

“I’m fine. Just nervous.”

“You don’t have to be. I know you’ll do well. You were the one who worked on that and it’s all in that big brain of yours.”

“I know, I know, I just…” Baekhyun takes a deep breath. “I just want to do well. I’m not hoping for my study to be published in some journal, unlike those that I did before, but I just want to do well and present this properly without encountering any problems. I want to prove that it was worth it and I was the one who worked on this and nobody else.”

Chanyeol just looks at him as he bites his lip, pulls the sleeve of his sweater. He was tapping on his keyboard absentmindedly, looking at the presentation with a blank look.

“Come here,” he says and pulls Baekhyun towards him and ends up having his face on his chest. He runs his hand through his hair and Chanyeol suddenly has the idea of kissing the top of his head, but he shakes it away, feeling like it was inappropriate to do so and how he was out of his mind for even thinking of that. He ends up whispering, “You’re gonna do well, B.”

“That and this doesn’t comfort me. I’m still nervous.”

“At least it helps in lessening the thoughts. You know, it prevents having breakdowns and doing things that you’d only end up regretting.”

Baekhyun laughs and lets himself be hugged like this. He never _ever_ imagined to be in this position (again), and willingly letting Chanyeol give him some sense of comfort. Just before, he was loathing to see him, to even be near him in the fear of being influenced of his problematic habits, and to be called stupid all over again and have himself questioning his own capabilities.

But now...

He giggles and remembers that time Chanyeol went to their side of the department just to ask for his help, when Chanyeol tried to blackmail him and show his article and what he had pulled out that time.

“Hey, you know what would comfort me?”

Chanyeol looks down on him and sees Baekhyun looking up, a small smile on his face. “Yeah, what? Tell me.”

“That picture of you with an overly emphasized tear on your cheek” Baekhyun says and Chanyeol groans, pushing him away back to his seat. Baekhyun laughs. “Give it to me and I’d pin it to my cork board.”

“Stop. Don’t make me remember that. It was for a homework, okay? I wasn’t technically breaking down. I was just showing what I felt. We had to create a reaction paper, and the video was about a dog, and I’m a big fucking softie for it!” Chanyeol’s face flush and Baekhyun giggles. “You don’t even have a cork board! I didn’t see that when I went to your room.”

“For that I will have one.”

“Shush, Baekhyun. Do your own thing and let me regret all of my stupid decisions in life.”

 

 

“Hey, do you have a softcopy of that picture of you crying because of the video? I need it for a reaction paper, too.”

“ _Please_ shut up and let me live.”

 

 

“Are you done now?” Chanyeol asks, eyeing Baekhyun who was packing up his things, a small contented smile on his face.

“Yep. Thanks for keeping me company, Chanyeol. It certainly helped,” he says and gives him a breathtaking smile.

Baekhyun looks different every single time that he accomplishes something. Everytime that his mind wasn’t haywire and not contemplating about anything.

He glows, like he had figured things out.

It was honestly a sight to see.

Chanyeol wants to see it more, outside the library and whenever they aren’t talking about anything related to school.

He just… wants to know more about him. Be a part of the the reason of his smile and all that cheesy thing.

Now that things were ending… they don’t have to meet up anymore from time to time.

But he doesn’t want to end it all here. Not when he’s starting to feel something. Not when there’s already something blooming and lingering. At least for him.

He clears his throat and acts as if it didn’t affect him. Like talking to Baekhyun wasn’t anything that makes his stomach churn.

“Whatever. All I want is to have fun after a long week,” Chanyeol says and clings to Baekhyun, startling the guy with the gesture. He sees the way Baekhyun stares at the way Chanyeol’s arms were wrapped tightly on him. “How ‘bout we do something different?”

“Different?”

“Are you up for some karaoke?”

The way Baekhyun’s face lights up makes him think that asking for Baekhyun’s help and company was the best thing that he had ever made.

 

 

“Seriously? The first thing that you’ll sing is _My heart will go on_? We haven’t even had our beer yet,” Chanyeol says incredulously, looking at Baekhyun already preparing to sing, waiting for the instrumental. He shakes his head and opens a bottle of beer and hands it to Baekhyun. “Beer?”

“Eh. Not tonight. Not in the mood to drink,” Baekhyun declines. “And Jongdae was watching _Titanic_ last night. I watched with him since he asked me to, plus he has popcorn and it smelled so nice, and the song kinda just got stuck inside my head.”

“Sure,” Chanyeol says in disbelief and he laughs when Baekhyun pouts, sensing that Chanyeol didn’t believe him and his taste of music was just limited to one.

But his expression changes when the song starts.

He listens to Baekhyun singing, looking at him as he closes his eyes and sings the song passionately. He looks at him fondly, as if he couldn’t believe that this man exists and that he couldn’t believe that he’s now starting to like him, interested in knowing him more. In seeing more of what he can do.

Sehun was right when he said that he should take time in knowing people, that they should give them a chance and not just think lowly of them every time they fuck up and prove to be less of what he thinks of them.

Maybe it just so happened that Baekhyun was the right person to know in the right time. In the time that he needed it the most and the time that he had realized how much of a jerk he was and was on his way to fixing himself and other things. He was there that time he was already trying to see others and what they were capable of, and Baekhyun just so happened to prove that not everyone can be as bad as what he had once thought of others. That he wasn’t stupid like what he had first thought him to be, not that he intended to say that then.

And he was much better now. Mentally and… everything.

He thinks it’s a bit too late, but life goes on, and he’s not changing just for the sake of surviving college. It’s for the better.

Chanyeol takes a drink of his beer and watches Baekhyun slowly opening his eyes as the song ends.

“You sing so beautifully,” _I want to hear it more in the future._ “Is there anything you can’t do?”

“Heh. Nah. I just sing whenever Jongdae takes me out for karaoke.”

“You and Jongdae are close, huh?”

“Yeah, I mean he’s, like, the main reason why I even have a… _social life_ ,” he air quotes. “Not that I’m complaining or anything. He just wants me to enjoy the rest of my college life. He said I shouldn’t be too much of a hermit and that I should live a little.”

“You’re that busy?” Chanyeol asks, taking another drink of his beer. Baekhyun was just nodding at him, looking for another song to sing, only to pass the microphone to Chanyeol. Chanyeol just accepts it, but doesn’t do anything about it. “But I don’t even see you doing that much. Like, you’re just in front of your laptop doing one task. Nothing else. Or at least… during the days that we were together.”

“No, you’re right. I only do things one at a time whenever I’m in campus,” Baekhyun says and reaches for a bag of chips. Chanyeol hands it to him for easier access. Baekhyun eats one first before he continues to talk. “S’because I do things at the dorm all night and just sleep by 3 AM… and try to look for ways to earn money, so I can save up instead of relying in the scholarship allowance.”

“So Jongdae wasn’t lying that you overwork, huh…”

“Yeah. I usually stay in that study space located in our dorm instead of our room and Jongdae would sleepily pull me away from my seat just to make me sleep,” Baekhyun says.

“Why do you do so many things then?”

“I… don’t know. I guess I just like it whenever I’m doing something. It keeps me busy. Makes me not think of other things. So that I’ll have no choice but to just go to bed and close my eyes and just sleep without thinking of what ifs, not that there are many of those,” Baekhyun explains, his eyes looking at the screen and then looking at Chanyeol, giving him a smile. “But I don’t do that now. I mean, ever since Jongdae just forced me to go out every now and then. Plus, Jongdae thinks that lately, I’m… much better. Like I’m glowing or something.”

“Yeah, I noticed that. You’re getting enough rest now, huh?” he asks, his eyes now on the screen as he looks for a song that he knows.

“Mm-hm. It’s because of you, too.”

Chanyeol snaps his head to his direction. “What?”

Baekhyun just shrugs, acting nonchalant, but the way his cheeks were turning pink says otherwise. “Go sing a song, Chanyeol. I’ll wait for my turn.”

But he can’t seem to focus. He had one song placed, _Nothing Without You_ by 10cm, but he can’t seem to go along with the song, because he feels like there’s _something_ that he should understand with what Baekhyun had said. That he shouldn’t pass it up.

Baekhyun grabs the remote control and presses in a song, a small smile present in his face as if he was happy with what he had chosen. And Chanyeol’s song was just playing in the background as he stares at Baekhyun.

“Chanyeol, why are you not singing? Does your voice suck? Is that it?” Baekhyun asks, laughing as he munches one of the chips that he had handed him. “Don’t worry. I won’t judge you. This is karaoke, after all.”

Baekhyun was just smiling at him, comfortable with how they were, and Chanyeol just stares at him, lets the instrumental just play behind them to fill out the silence. Baekhyun feels Chanyeol stare at him and shifts from his seat, suddenly uncomfortable with the given attention.

Baekhyun tries to laugh everything off, just to ease the tension suddenly surrounding them. He pouts. “Why did you even invite me to a karaoke if I’m the only one who’s having a good time?”

Chanyeol just wants to kiss that pout off.

“Because I want to spend more time with you, outside the library, with our conversations not being limited to academic stuff,” he says, moving closer to Baekhyun.

He sees the way Baekhyun’s eyes widen and the way his lips part in shock. But he doesn’t back away and Chanyeol takes it as a good sign. He leans closer, only a few inches apart, and he can now feel Baekhyun’s hot breath and the it’s making him flip. His gaze drops down to his lips and back to Baekhyun’s now wide eyes. “Is it okay to want to spend more time with you and go past the study buddies status?”

Baekhyun laughs with the _study buddy,_ and somehow, even in a situation that’s making his heart beat rapidly, he’s at ease.

He nods and Chanyeol smiles.

“Then if I ask you out, will it be—“

He doesn’t get to finish his question, because Baekhyun had closed the gap between them, and Chanyeol savors the feeling of Baekhyun’s lips on his. He holds onto him gently, smiling into the kiss.

“You talk too much,” Baekhyun says when they part and he smiles, before leaning, just to kiss a dazed Chanyeol again.

Baekhyun can taste the alcohol Chanyeol had drank, only faint, given that they had only started a few minutes ago, only 2 songs in, and he knows Chanyeol is sober, still in the right mind to know what he was doing.

The song in the background gets forgotten. It was just them, kissing, and trying to get to know the feeling, just for them to get used to it.

That is until the next song plays and Chanyeol stops, laughing, his shoulder shaking as he leans on Baekhyun’s shoulder. Baekhyun laughs with him, because he realized what the other was laughing about.

Chanyeol looks at him with a glint in his eyes. “B, seriously? _Toxic_? Britney Spears?”

Baekhyun laughs, his eyes shining, and Chanyeol just can’t look away.

“Sorry. The title was supposed to be dedicated for your past self, but I guess the lyrics work in this situation too,” he says, laughing. Then he makes his voice deeper, singing along, _“Oh, the taste of your lips, I’m on a ride—“_

He laughs and thinks this isn’t how he thought the first time he confesses would go like.

In fact, he didn’t even know that today was the day he’d just suddenly make a move and take his chance.

But he guesses it’s perfect the way it is.

 

 

 

Chanyeol waits for Baekhyun outside their room, tapping his foot impatiently, his bag slinging on one of his shoulders.

It was Wednesday and Baekhyun’s presentation was today. It was supposed to be last Monday, but his professor had a meeting to attend to, leaving Baekhyun with more days of feeling nervous and antsy. And Chanyeol gladly gave him company while he was worrying with his own paper. They just spent most of their time together, talking about anything and familiarizing with each other’s comfort.

It was nice. He was feeling… contented. He wasn’t looking for anything wrong. Something to fix. He was just enjoying the moment, letting himself learn about Baekhyun and sharing more to him, letting him know him too.

He was there to stop Baekhyun overthink, teasing him and telling him useless and embarrassing stuff just to make his mind wander elsewhere. Baekhyun was there, too, to ask him questions and look for loopholes in his own paper. To help him edit some other papers that he has to pass as some sort of compliance for the finals. He was there when Chanyeol was first to pass and present his own paper, to give him a hug and some treat from him, in the form of a self-made pasta and a quick kiss on the cheek. It was enough for him.

They were just making the most of their time, spending it together, despite Sehun’s constant need to ask for updates about them, and Jongdae’s never-ending comment of how cliche they were and how they were turning into the cliche popular Korean dramas that he despises yet continues to watch anyway.

It didn’t matter. He was having fun. They were both having fun.

He was just tapping something from his phone when the door suddenly opens, revealing a jumpy Baekhyun wearing the same dress shirt that he had worn in one of the pictures he had seen in an article in Visionario.

“Chanyeol! I did it!” Baekhyun says and suddenly hugs him, jumping, and Chanyeol was quick to hold him by thighs to be able to balance the both of them and prevent the both of them from falling. “He said that I did well and that it’s possible for publication. That it was possible for me to present it in a conference. I’m so happy!”

“I’m proud of you, smartass,” Chanyeol says and gently places Baekhyun down, looking at him fondly. “You’re _my_ smartass, huh.”

Baekhyun makes a face. “You are disgusting. Jongdae was right when he said that all of this was cliche.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Chanyeol says and chuckles, wrapping his arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder as they make their way to the exit. “Now that everything’s over and now that you have time, is it now safe to ask you out? Or are you still on the idea that you’re still too busy to even get to know people?”

Baekhyun frowns, confused of what he was talking about. “Aren’t you the one who’s too busy to get to know people? Why are you asking me?”

Chanyeol shakes his head. “No, remember? You said before, that once you’re already done with all that you had to do, and you can already merrily walk along the hallways, that’s the time that you’d consider going out and deal with it?”

Baekhyun groans, flustered, walking away from Chanyeol. “Dumbass,” he hears him mutter, shaking his head.

Chanyeol pouts and follows him, holding his arm and shaking it. “What? So? Come on. I need you to confirm it! I don’t want to have some misunderstandings!”

Baekhyun stops walking and hits his arm.

“You’re such a dumbass. Of course I’d go out with you. _Even_ if there were still some shit looming, like things to pass for finals. Haven’t we been doing that? I wouldn’t have spent some time with you, hug you, and kiss you if not. I think this is worth a try,” Baekhyun says and places a quick kiss on his lips.

But before Baekhyun can even walk away from him, he wraps his arms around him to keep him close, just to give a good look of him. Baekhyun just lets him and looks at Chanyeol with the same look that’s making Chanyeol like him even more. His eyes were sparkling when Chanyeol looks at it, and he thinks that he’d do everything not to lose it. To always be near Baekhyun and the warmth he gives him and reciprocate it.

He wants to place another kiss on his lips, when suddenly, Baekhyun says, “I like you, Chanyeol, so, tell me, will you now give me the softcopy of you being the whole soft-hearted person you are or—”

Chanyeol pushes him away and groans. He walks away fast, and Baekhyun laughs, trying to catch up with him. He tugs his sleeve and smiles sweetly at him. “I’m just kidding, Chanyeol. Now, where should we go, now that we can walk merrily?”

Chanyeol kisses the smile away and winks at him teasingly. “Anywhere, as long as it’s with you.”

“Fucking gross!” Baekhyun says and walks away from him, head down as if he was ashamed. The curious eyes surrounding them were not given some attention, and he just kept muttering under his breath, “Please, I don’t know him.”

Chanyeol catches up to him, shouting, just to purposely tease Baekhyun even more, “Hey! I’m serious! Anywhere, as long as it’s with you!”

“Shut the fuck up!”

Chanyeol laughs and runs towards Baekhyun, getting a glimpse of the guy’s red face.

He can tease Baekhyun all day, try to get his attention, listen to everything he wants to say, and let him express himself, get comfortable in their own space.

Just as long as they were near each other.

Just to prove that he was serious.

That he was serious that it was okay anywhere, as long as it’s with Baekhyun.

And he knows Baekhyun feels the same, if his lips on him, as they take a seat on a secluded part in the library, hiding from the librarian, was any indication of that.


End file.
